EFCC arrests INEC officials

The Sokoto Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has arrested INEC officials in Zamfara State over allegations of fraud.

Those arrested are Hassan Sidi Aliyu, Administrative Secretary; Hussain Jafar, Head of Operations; Abdullahi Yusuf Abubakar, State Accountant; and Abdulmumin Usman.

The EFCC said they were arrested over an alleged case of conspiracy, breach of trust and criminal diversion of Ad Hoc staff allowance to the tune of N84.7 million.

The petitioner, Abdullahi Nasiru, who wrote on behalf of all presiding officers that worked for INEC during the 2019 Presidential and Gubernatorial elections in Zamfara State, alleged that the ad-hoc staff were denied payment of their N6,000 movement allowance each for the two elections.

He further alleged that what the Commission paid to them was different from what other states paid their Adhoc staff.

The Commision allegedly paid its staff N9,000 in Zamfara while in other states like Sokoto State, the commission paid N12,000.

An investigation by the EFCC revealed that none of the 10,500 presiding officers who participated in the elections were paid their entitlements commutatively put at N84, 696,000 (Eighty Four Million, Six Hundred and Ninety-Six Thousand Naira).

EFCC said efforts were being made by the Commission to recover the money criminally diverted by the three INEC heads of department and Electoral Officers of the 14 local governments in Zamfara State.

The suspects would be arraigned in court as soon as investigation is completed, spokesperson Wilson Uwujaren said in a statement.