The trial of three officials of Independent Electoral Commission, INEC - Jummai Lawan Ibrahim, Kabir Bello and Musa Buba Amshi, accused of corrupt receipt of monetary benefits to the tune of N243, 067,000 (Two Hundred and Forty Three Million, Sixty Seven Thousand Naira) got underway on August 6, 2018 with three witnesses testifying.
Ibrahim and her co-accused are bring prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on a-6 count charge bordering on criminal conspiracy and abuse of office before Justice Fadawu Umar of the of State High Court, Maiduguri, Borno State.
Ibrahim, a retired Assistant Director, Public Affairs Directorate of the INEC, in connivance with Bello and Amshi(serving officials of INEC) allegedly conspired to collect slush funds from a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, in the build-up to the 2015 presidential election. .
Testifying, Muhammad Umar, while being led in evidence as PW1 by counsel to the EFCC, Khalid Sanusi, told the court that the accused persons collected bribe from an NGO that was not registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC.
Umar, an Administrative Secretary and Account Officer of the Jalingo office of INEC stated that the second defendant (Bello) asked him to come to Fidelity Bank, Maiduguri Branch, with a vehicle to carry money sent by an NGO called “West African Election Observers”.
He further stated that, the following morning Bello called and informed him that money was disbursed and he should come and collect Maiduguri Municipal Council’s share, which sum, N25million, was collected with a break down on how the money was shared. .
When asked how elections are funded by INEC, Umar said: “Elections are funded by the Federal Government of Nigeria through statutory allocation and donor agencies”, adding that donor agencies release funds directly to the INEC account.
Comments
Post a Comment
Please comment here