The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned two officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Ibrahim Umar and Sahabo Hamman.
They were arraigned on Thursday before Justice Nathan Musa of the Adamawa State High Court, Yola, on three counts bordering on conspiracy, corrupt procurement and receipt of monetary benefit.
In a statement signed by its Spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, the EFCC said Ibrahim, the electoral officer in charge of Yola South Local Government Area of Adamawa State, allegedly conspired with Sahabo who is a retired INEC staff and Adamawa State coordinator of West African Network of Election Observers (WANEO) during the 2015 presidential election.
The anti-graft agency said the alleged conspiracy was to “receive the sum of N362m, part of the N23b bribe allegedly distributed by Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, a former Petroleum Resources Minister, to influence the outcome of the 2015 presidential poll.
“Investigation revealed that N65.2m from the money collected was shared among INEC officials in the state while N281.9m could not be accounted for by the accused persons.”
The accused persons pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Consequently, the prosecution counsel A. Y. Muntaka asked the court to fix a date for trial and to remand the accused in prison custody.
Justice Nathan, however, granted bail to the accused in the sum of N10m each and two sureties in like sum and adjourned the case till October 17, 18 and 19.
The sureties are also to have landed property worth N10m within the jurisdiction of the court which is to be verified by the court.
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