Prof. Attahiru Jega
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and its Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega are being accused of some deals during the procurement process of the ballot boxes used for the 2011 general elections which was considered free and fair.
The allegation leveled against Jega and Maurice Iwu was contained in a counter-affidavit that was presented before a Federal High Cour sitting in Abuja by an indigenous company, Bedding Holdings Ltd.
In an affidavit that was presented on behalf of the company by its chairman, Chief Sylvester Odigie, explained to the court that sufficient evidence is on ground to prove that Jega is not different from Professor Iwu who was also accused of almost the same practices. The company’s case was on the 150,000 transparent ballot boxes purchased for the 2011 general elections
The case file revealed that companies with little share capital were used for selective tender and bidding to obtain the transparent boxes.
The INEC boss was also accused of turning things around before the Federal Executive Council, FEC in order to convince them so as to have EMCHAI Limited handle the contract.
It was alleged that EMCHAI, which won the contract for the procurement of the ballot boxes was not qualified because it had had insufficient share capital of 10,000 even though fake documents were used for bidding.
According to the company, “INEC under the new administration of the 7th Defendant (Jega) sustained the fraudulent and criminal activities of the 1st, 2nd and 6th Defendants under the leadership of Prof. Maurice Iwu.
“Jega, on behalf and in favour of the EMCHAI applied and caused a memo – EC (2010) 219 COPY NO. 8 dated 15th November, 2010 and titled: Federal Executive Council – Contract For The Supply Of Collapsible Transparent Ballot Boxes For The Conduct Of The 2011 General Elections –Memorandum by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which inter alia stated at paragraph 5 of the said memo that:
“While noting that the company that supplied the boxes in 2006, EMCHAI Limited has the patent to its design and specifications; and in order also to maintain standardization, the Commission decided to adopt the direct Procurement method in the award of the contract for the Transparent Collapsible Ballot Boxes as provided in section 42 (1) (a) (b) and (c) of the Public Procurement Act 2007” (Underlining supplied for emphasis)
“The blatant falsehood as stated in the preceding paragraph enabled EMCHAI, INEC and Jega to successfully seek and obtain the ratification of the Federal Executive Council, using the guided tools and instrumentality of officialdom, for the award of the contract for the supply of yet a new 150,000 units of the Plaintiff’s patented products at a unit cost of N13, 000.00 making the total contract sum of N1, 950,000,000.00 without the prior consent, license and authority of the Plaintiff; which gave rise to the action leading to the judgment under reference.
“To this effect, the guided tools and instrumentality of officialdom has once again, been used to deceive the highest ruling body in this Nation-Nigeria to infringe on the Plaintiff’s patented products.”
However, because the court is currently on break, no date has so far been fixed for the case hearing.
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