As INEC suspends 205 officers
As specified by due process in dealing with criminal elements among its staff, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has suspended 205 officials over various unwholesome roles in the 2015 general elections. This was revealed recently in Abuja by INEC Chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu in a keynote address he delivered at a national colloquium organized […]
As specified by due process in dealing with criminal elements among its staff, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has suspended 205 officials over various unwholesome roles in the 2015 general elections. This was revealed recently in Abuja by INEC Chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu in a keynote address he delivered at a national colloquium organized by Independent Service Delivery Monitoring Group, ISDMG.
Prof Yakubu said interdiction of the affected staff was recommended by INEC’s Appointment, Promotion and Discipline Committee (APDC). In Nigeria’s public service, the placement of a serving officer on interdiction entails suspension from work and being placed on half-salary monthly, pending the final determination of the charges brought against him or her.
It would be recalled that acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, said in April 2017 that all the INEC staff indicted for collecting bribe during the 2015 general elections have been charged to various courts in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kano and Gombe. A total of 295 INEC officers were reportedly indicted for their involvement in bribery, corruption and money laundering arising from the 2015 elections. With the bribery allegations involving INEC staff amounting to billions of naira, it suggests that the indictment and interdiction of 205 staff could be a tip of the iceberg.
Among the suspects are some former Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs). Sensitive election materials for the 2015 presidential and senatorial polls were allegedly retrieved from the residences of some of the suspects. Investigations by EFCC also revealed that some of the suspects were operating foreign bank accounts in violation of the Code of Conduct for public officers. Some suspects standing trial have, during preliminary investigations, confessed to charges brought against them. One of the suspects, Effanga, had mentioned during interrogation that although he cashed N241,127, 000 at a branch of Fidelity Bank in Calabar, he only got $290,000 as his share. There were also reports during the last polls in the country that an INEC staff that had custody of sensitive election materials disappeared from duty post and kept himself out of reach by switching off his mobile phones.
While it is remarkable for INEC to have placed 205 staff on interdiction for their individual scandalous roles in the 2015 general elections, it is yet worrisome that three years after the polls and indictment of officers, the cases are yet to be finally determined. The fact that the next round of general elections is less than a year from now and none of the suspects standing trial over corruption allegations and other complicities in the last polls has been convicted calls for concern. The determination of these cases is crucial to the credibility of the 2019 polls.
Unless the fate of every INEC staff on interdiction is decided without delay, our inaction in their trial may have prepared the ground for the criminally-minded among serving INEC staff to further orchestrate and perpetrate illegalities that would undermine and discredit the 2019 general elections. The worthwhile conclusion of all cases involving INEC staff and officials before the 2019 elections get closer will help to avert the commission of criminal activities in future elections in Nigeria.
While we support the prosecution of erring staff members, we equally encourage INEC to recognize those among its officers that demonstrate exceptional sense of responsibility, integrity and patriotism in the discharge of their statutory duties and other national assignments that may have been assigned to them. We advise EFCC to share details of its investigations and charge sheets with INEC in order to add value to their work. Such will also ensure effective and successful prosecution of cases. Indeed, the fight against corruption by both agencies, the EFCC and INEC, would further be strengthened if EFCC invites officers from INEC’s legal department to join its prosecution team in the trial of suspected dubious INEC staff.