INEC, EFCC engage 18 lawyers to prosecute suspected electoral offenders

Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) have appointed a total of 18 legal practitioners to prosecute electoral offenders during the just-concluded General Elections.

The 18 lawyers include two Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) who are also in the legal team.

The 18 lawyers are expected to prosecute electoral offences relating to financial crimes arising from the elections.

According to INEC and EFCC, there are over 200 suspects arrested for various electoral offences during the political exercise which held on February 25, 26 and March 11, this year.

The first SAN on the list, Abdulaziz Sani will represent INEC, while the other SAN, Rotimi Oyedepo will stand for the EFCC during the prosecution.

Others in the legal team include: Nasara H. Auta, Odinaka Ikoroha, Adeyemi Olufemi, Mahmud Tafarki, Ahmed Mohammed, Amaka Okwuaka, Enoch M. Akafa, and Temple Ukaegbu.

Others are Samuel Daji, Adaka Mainforce Ekwu, Soare Adebayo Benedict, Arumemi Moses, Abubakar Aliyu, Ikhamaede Ramai, Andrew Akojn, and Khalid Sanusi Sabo.

It would be recalled that INEC Chairman Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, had on March 14, disclosed that the commission was setting up a legal team to deal with cases of electoral offenders during the February 25 presidential and National Assembly polls.

A day earlier, the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, directed commissioners of police in charge of state commands to ensure the investigation of all cases of violation of the Electoral Act during the February 25, 2023 presidential and National Assembly polls.

Similarly, the EFCC in March revealed that it arrested no fewer than 65 persons on 18 March 2023 across the 28 states where governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections were conducted, for alleged voter inducement. But it did not state the number of arrests made during the presidential election.

“Twenty of the suspects were arrested by operatives from the Ilorin Zonal Command while 13 suspects were nabbed by operatives on election monitoring duty at the Kaduna Zonal Command.

“The teams monitoring the polls in the Port Harcourt Zone arrested a total of 12 people for various offences bordering on inducing voters with money to vote their preferred candidates, while the Uyo Zonal Command made 4 arrests in Calabar. The remaining suspects were arrested in Gombe, Sokoto, Kebbi, and Niger states.

“Those arrested in Kaduna consist of 10 males and 3 females. They were apprehended by operatives working on intelligence or chanced upon them during the monitoring exercise. A suspect allegedly involved in vote buying was nabbed at School Road, Unguwan Rimi Kaduna. The suspect who initially resisted arrest, is however in custody, pending the conclusion of the investigation.

“Also in Kaduna, the Tẹam led by ACE II Esmond Garba arrested one Buhari Muhammed in PU 002 Dogara Yaro Dagari area. He was arrested with Voter Coupons, which he confessed would be used to trace and pay those who voted for his party,” read the EFCC statement signed by its spokesperson, Wilson Uwajuren.

Uwajuren further added that the team monitoring the voting exercise around LEA Kabala Doki, Kaduna led by CSE Wakilu Omokide also arrested two individuals suspected of vote buying.

“Upon their arrest, a total sum of N67, 500, a list containing names of voters with their PVC numbers and their bank account details amongst others, were recovered from them.

“A search of their persons and phones revealed that most of them had transferred money into the accounts of some voters on the lists recovered from them.

“Some of the items recovered from the suspects include voters’ cards, monies, and a list containing names and account details of voters. Others are recharge cards.”

He said arrests were also carried out in Cross River and Rivers states among others.