EFCC Arrests Cross River REC, Others For Taking N675m In Bribes

By CrossRiverWatch admin

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has found over N675.1m in the bank accounts of the Resident Electoral Commissioner of Cross River State, Mrs. Gesila Khan and other Independent National Electoral Commission officials in Rivers, Akwa Ibom, and Delta states.

According to the anti-graft agency, the money was received and shared by the officials during the last governorship elections.

Mrs. Gesila Khan was alleged to have participated in the sleaze while serving as the Resident Electoral Commissioner REC, in the 2015 general election in Rivers State that saw the emergence of Chibudom Wike as the Rivers state governor before she was redeployed to Cross River State.

The Punch reports that Mrs. Gesila Khan, and other officials of INEC who are already in EFCC custody, were quizzed by the Department of State Services in July last year but were never charged.

However on Thursday, Khan was re-arrested by the zonal office of the EFCC in Port Harcourt, along with other suspects and search warrants have been executed in the residences of all the suspects and incriminating documents were said to have been recovered by the Commission.

The Cross River REC allegedly received N185.8m ahead of the March 28 and April 11, 2015, election in Rivers state and she is said to have made confessional statements and was cooperating with the Commission.

But the Ijaw Youth Congress Worldwide has demanded the immediate release of the arrested officials, insisting that they are innocent.

Eric Omare, the group’s spokesman, said in a statement that Khan, who is also an Ijaw, was a victim of witch-hunt.

He said. “Mrs. Khan had gone to the office of the EFCC to honor an invitation and to have met with the EFCC team, they demanded a first class traditional ruler or holder of the national honour of Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) to stand surety to bail her. However, when the surety was made available on Thursday, the 14th of April, 2016, the EFCC at Port Harcourt claimed that they no longer knew her whereabouts.”

“This is an illegal conduct and flagrant abuse of power by the EFCC in the guise of fighting corruption. While all well-meaning Nigerians and organizations, including the IYC, have over the years supported efforts at stamping out corruption from Nigeria, we insist that such a fight must be done within the ambit of the law.”