Three officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have been remanded in prison on the orders of a federal high court sitting in Lagos.
The INEC officials Yemi Akinwonmi, Dickson Atiba, and Ogunmodede Oladayo were ordered to be remanded in prison custody when they were brought before Justice Muslim Hassan on Monday.
The INEC officials were arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegedly laundering the sum of N179.8 million.
Read: United States Condemn Killings in Nigeria – Killers Must Face Justice
The EFCC accused the defendants of taking the said sum sometime in March 2015 with the full knowledge that the money was part of the proceeds of fraud.
EFCC further alleged that the INEC officials carried out the financial transaction by hand and not through a financial institution thereby committing an offence contrary to section 18a of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act of 2011 as amended.
The EFCC also revealed that the crime was punishable under section 15 (3) and (4) of the same Act. The three INEC officials however pleaded not guilty to the charge when it was read to them.
Justice Hassan proceeded to adjourn the case till the 6th of August to hear the bail application of the INEC officials after the initial pleas had been taken.
Nigerians have expressed concern about the ability of INEC to conduct free and fair elections come 2019 citing the irregularities that marred the Ekiti governorship elections.
The election had been marred by massive vote buying by the major political parties in the state, with one vote costing as low as N4000. Although the major political parties denied the charges overwhelming evidence on social media and testimonies by independent observers say otherwise.
INEC officials were also accused of taking inducements to tamper the election results on behalf of the All Peoples Congress (APC); INEC has denied the allegations while the Peoples Democratic Party has announced it would challenge the election results in court.
Leave a Reply