N3.4billion scandal: Indicted INEC staff refund bribe money – Chairman

- The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says some of

its staff accused of benefiting from N3.4 billion bribe money in the

2015 general elections have refunded their share



- A statement by spokesman of the EFCC, quoted the INEC chairman as

saying that 70 of the affected staff in three states were still in

denial



- The INEC chairman also said about five INEC political appointees,

who are either National Commissioners or Resident Commissioners, were

found wanting







The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Thursday said

some of its staff accused of benefiting from a N3.4 billion bribe

money in the 2015 general elections have refunded their share.



The INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmud Yakubu, disclosed this when he visited

the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission

(EFCC), Mr Ibrahim Magu, in Abuja.



A statement by spokesman of the EFCC, Mr Wilson Uwujaren, quoted the

INEC chairman as saying that 70 of the affected staff in three states

were still in denial.





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Yakubu, according to Uwujaren, said they would be referred to the EFCC

for further investigation.



The INEC chairman also said about five INEC political appointees, who

are either National Commissioners or Resident Commissioners, were

found wanting.



Also indicted, he said, are 21 retired staff mostly acting under the

aegis of WANEO(West African Network of Election Observers).

Yakubu said 21 retirees had been blacklisted from monitoring elections

and other activities organised by INEC in the future, according to

Uwujaren.



"If we get our election right, we get our

democracy right as the right people will be elected and once we get

our democracy right we will get national progress and development on

track.

INEC is on the same page with the EFCC in this big responsibility of

sanitising the country,'' the INEC chairman was quoted saying.

Responding, Magu was said to have expressed the anti-graft agency's

readiness to prosecute all the indicted INEC staff.





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We are already prosecuting some of the INEC staff, we have started in

Lagos and we are in the process in Port-Harcourt, Kano and Gombe,''

Magu reportedly said.



While expressing satisfaction with the collaboration between both

agencies, Magu commended the INEC boss for supporting the

investigation involving some of his staff members.



He said: "What you have done will change the course of electioneering

in this country, by bringing in sanity and credibility.

"It will send a signal and serve as deterrent to any person who may

wish to perpetrate fraud in the electoral process whether as a monitor

or staff of INEC.''







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Magu assured INEC of continued support from the EFCC, noting that the

agency's functions are central to the future of the country, and that

the next election must be different.



Uwujaren said the INEC boss was accompanied on the visit by other

management staff of the commission, including Hajiya Amina Zakari, Mr

Baba Shetima and Prof. Okey Ibeanu.