A Yola High Court presided over by Justice Nathan Musa has sentenced two officials of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC ) to 21 years imprisonment each for receiving a bribe of N362 million from the former Minister of Petroleum, Diezani Madueke, during the 2015 general election.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the convicts, Ibrahim Mohammed and Sahabo Iya-Hamman, were arraigned before the court by the EFCC.
Mrs Alison-Madueke (still at large), was also arraigned.
Delivering judgement on Thursday, Mr Musa said that 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.
Mr Musa said that although N362 million was received by the officials, they only shared five per cent of the money to other staff of the commission leaving a balance unaccounted for.
He, however, said that 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, Muhammad Adamu, to liaise with the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) to arrest the third respondent, Mrs Alison-Madueke, so she can face her charges. (NAN)
