The police on Monday said it recovered over N111 million from officials of Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, given to them to manipulate the December 10, 2016 legislative rerun elections in Rivers State.
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he money was allegedly given to them by Rivers State government to rig the election in favour of the ruling PDP in the state.
An investigative panel set up by the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, which presented its report in Abuja on Monday, saying the money was recovered from 23 suspects.
The chairman of the panel, Damian Okoro, disclosed that, the sum total of N111.3 million was recovered from 23 electoral officials out of N360million.
Mr Okoro, a deputy commissioner of police, said while some officials got N15 million each, three senior electoral officers got N20 million each.
Meanwhile, Ahmed Makarfi, caretaker committee chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), says the N111 million displayed by the police on Tuesday, reminded him of “actions of magicians”.
The police had said the money was part of the bribe, which Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers state, gave to some officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to influence the outcome of the December 10 rerun election.
Wike has since denied the allegation, accusing the police of “sinking to the lowest depths”.
Dayo Adeyeye, secretary of the caretaker committee of the PDP, wondered how the police arrived at the conclusion that money recovered was from the PDP in Rivers state.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“What is the evidence that the monies recovered from INEC officers were from the PDP or the governor? Were the monies marked? So, APC did not bribe INEC officers?” he asked during the presentation of a report from the strategy review and inter-party affairs committee of the opposition party.[/perfectpullquote]
On his part, Makarfi said anyone could have come forward to present money.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“The police brought out money, saying it was confiscated from INEC officers. We too could have brought some monies here and also said they were confiscated from INEC officers,” he said.[/perfectpullquote]
[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“What of the money with the police and other security agencies? Have they not compromised or is the money not recoverable?”[/perfectpullquote]
The panel set up by the police to investigate the irregularities in legislative rerun said three senior INEC officials collected N20 million each and others received N15 million.
