INEC bars suspected bribe takers from Edo, Ondo polls

The Independent National Electoral Commission has stopped its officers, who are currently undergoing investigations for alleged corrupt practices, from
taking part in the conduct of the governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states.

The commission said the action was taken in order to give credibility to the two elections.

Governorship elections are to hold in Edo and Ondo states on September 10 and November 26 respectively.

The commission also said if the affected officers were not cleared even after the two elections must have been held, they would continue to be left out
of other electoral assignments.

INEC’s Deputy Director, Publicity and Voter Education, Mr. Nick Dazang, stated this in an interview with our correspondent in Abuja on Sunday.

The PUNCH had asked Dazang if the over 100 officers, being investigated for alleged bribery by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in connection
with bribery allegations during the last general elections, would be deployed for the two elections.

The Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, had confirmed the number of the suspects, stating that at the end of the probe, those found guilty would be
sacked.

Some resident electoral officers of the commission were alleged to have been bribed by the officials of the Peoples Democratic Party during the general
elections.

For example, a former Resident Electoral Commissioner in Rivers State, Mrs. Gesila Khan, and other top INEC officials in the South-South geopolitical zone
were alleged to have received N675.1m from a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke.

According to impeccable sources at the EFCC, Khan, who was later deployed as REC in Cross River State, allegedly received N185.8m ahead of the March 28
and April 11, 2015 elections.

The commission also arrested one Oluchi Obi Brown, who was the INEC administrative secretary in Delta State, said to have allegedly received over N111m.

Further investigations by detectives revealed that Brown had about $75,000 in an account in the United States.

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