Three INEC Officials Arraigned By EFCC For Attempted Bribery

 

The INEC officials have been charged to court for allegedly receiving a bribe of over N163.9 million .

The three attempted  to bribe INEC Staff to manipulate  the results  of the 2015 general elections  which resulted in their arrest and arraignment by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Gombe state zonal office on Wednesday, March 7, 2018.

Dr Godwin Kwanga, former Plateau state resident electoral commissioner; Usman Baba Bukar, former INEC administrative secretary in Plateau state and Jonathan Azi Nyako, a retired INEC staff, were charged before Justice C. L. Dabup of Plateau state High Court. Usman Baba Bukar on a  two count charge of  conspiracy and bribery.

The defendants were accused of unlawfully using their  position by  conspiring  among themselves to bribe INEC Staff to manipulate the 2015 general election results to benefit  of one of the political parties .

It was recently  announced in Taraba state that some senior officials of the INEC in the  state have been reported to security agencies for allegedly registering ineligible voters during the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise ,an act which clearly violates the electoral voting process which does not guarantee  free and fair elections.

According  to the head of voter education and publicity in Taraba state, Fabian Vwamhi,  the petition was made by the Taraba state office after it discovered that some ineligible voters were being registered  during  the ongoing CVR exercise .

The commission asserted that all individuals  who were illegally registered as voters have been  been deleted from the register Subsequently   the electoral officer as well as the registration officer for the centre have been interrogated  over the incident.