A High Court sitting in Yola, Adamawa state, has sentenced two Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) staff to 42 years imprisonment for collecting bribes.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) brought the case against the two convicted INEC staff and Diezani Allison-Madueke, former minister of petroleum, for conspiring to defraud the federal government with the intent to compromise the 2015 general elections.
Justice Nathan Musa who delivered the judgment on Thursday, December 12, however, asked the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, to produce Allison-Madueke for prosecution.
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Musa said the court delivered the verdict after due diligence established a conspiracy between the persons, as such he convicted and sentenced the two INEC staff to seven years each on the three counts brought against them by the EFCC.
The judge said he was giving a lenient sentence since the accused were first-term offenders adding that the sentence would run concurrently.
According to him, “The offence has a mandatory provision. I’m constrained by the law. They shall be sentenced to seven years imprisonment without the option of fine. However in view of plea to temper justice with mercy, I will allow the sentence to run concurrently.”
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