The
Independent National Electoral Commission has suspended 202 personnel indicted
by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for allegedly receiving N23bn
bribe disbursed on the instruction of a former Minister of Petroleum Resources,
Diezani Alison-Madueke, ahead of the 2015 general elections.
Investigations revealed that the management of the
commission also placed the affected officials of the agency on half salaries
indefinitely, pending the outcome of their prosecution by the government.
The
commission had earlier announced the suspension of 23 electoral officers, who
were indicted by the joint Police/Department of State Services report on the
Rivers rerun election on March 9, 2017.
The
INEC National Commissioner in charge of South-West, Solomon Soyebi, who stated
this at a press briefing in Abuja, had said the commission suspended the
affected electoral officers because the Directorate of Pubic Prosecution was
investigating them for trial.
However,
authoritative sources within the commission told one of our correspondents that
the INEC leadership had already placed the affected staff on suspension and was
paying them half salaries in line with its terms and conditions of service.
The
source said, “The commission has suspended the 202 personnel who were indicted
by the EFCC for receiving bribe ahead of the 2015 elections.
“Already,
they have been placed on half salaries and they are no longer coming to work.
It means that they are on suspension.”
When
contacted on the issue, the Chief Press Secretary to the Chairman of INEC, Mr.
Rotimi Oyekanmi, confirmed that the affected staff would remain suspended and
placed on half salaries until the cases against them were determined.
He
added that the actions taken by INEC would remain until their names were
cleared in order for them to return to their former positions.
He
said, “We are waiting for their prosecution, and you know court cases take
quite some time to end.
“So,
our position is that the suspension remains.
“If
they are cleared, they will come back to their former positions; if they are
not cleared, no further actions would be taken.”
The
source added, “You know they are deemed innocent until proven guilty. That is
just the summary.”
Source :Punch
Tags
Politics