Justice Nathan Musa of Yola High Court today sentenced two officials of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to 21 years imprisonment each for receiving N362 million bribes from the former minister of petroleum resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison- Madueke, during the 2015 general election.
The convicts, Ibrahim Mohammed and Sahabo Iya-Hamman, were arraigned before the court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Alison-Madueke, who is still at large, was also arraigned.
In his ruling, Musa said going by testimonies from 15 witnesses who appeared before the court and the suspects’ responses, it was clear that they were guilty of the offence.
NAN quotes the judge as saying that although the INEC staff received N362 million, they only shared five per cent of the money to other staff of the commission, leaving a balance unaccounted for.
He, however, said following the pleas by their counsel, they were sentenced to seven years each on each of the three charges, adding that the sentence will run concurrently.
The judge also urged the inspector general of police, Mr. Muhammad Adamu, to liaise with the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) to arrest and bring the third respondent, Alison-Madueke for trial.
