Mr Ari's letter, which was received at the Force Headquarters on April 20, copied also to the director-general of the State Security Service (SSS), the National Security Adviser (NSA), and the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), also alleged that an SSS operative was attacked by police officers attached to the Government House and "thugs loyal to the PDP." The statement appeared to corroborate Mr Yunusa Ari's assertion that the SSS was aware of the situation.
SSS spokesman Peter Afunanya directed Prime 9ja Online to an April 16 press statement where the secret police had said it was investigating an attack "in which someone suspected to be its staff was allegedly manhandled by some political miscreants in Adamawa State." The police said on Tuesday that they received further instruction from INEC headquarters about Mr Yunusa Ari's offences and immediately intensified the manhunt.
In an update the same day, the police said the security threats were still high as the insurgents had planned to attack various local governments to disrupt collation. Mr Ari was then advised to move the collation from local government areas to the state's INEC headquarters, he said in the four-page letter. The electoral commissioner said he quickly complied and directed that all ad-hoc staff conduct collation at the commission's headquarters office in Dougirei, Yola.
He said he did not realise that the two assisting national commissioners had plans of their own as they "quietly and secretly gave out conflicting counter directives" to the electoral officers, adding that the counter-directives also said that collation should be done in the local government areas with new local government collation officers that he was "not aware of."
"This is without my knowledge or authorisation as the Resident Electoral Commissioner as recognised by laws establishing INEC and Electoral Act," Mr Yunusa Ari said, absolving himself of complicity and any wrongdoing. He would later find out Messrs Bila and Zuru flouted his order and quietly collated results at local governments using "self-appointed, unapproved, and illegal collation officers."
Mr Ari explained that while he was preparing for state collation, he was shocked to learn that his name had not only been excluded but "replaced with that of the administrative secretary to take charge of collation." He questioned the assisting national commissioners but got no explanation. Instead, they "declared that I was nowhere to be found."
He said he was placed under house arrest by security officers from the Government House Yola, and the police commissioner deployed mobile officers to rescue him. "It took the intervention of the commissioner of police who sent mobile policemen to my house, and when they heard a call was made to the CP, the policemen from Government House fled in a white Toyota Hilux van," Mr. Yunusa Ari said.