Former Resident Electoral Commissioner for Rivers State, Gesila Khan and four others are currently undergoing interrogation over the N681 million they allegedly received as bribe from former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke to facilitate the rigging of the 2015 elections in Rivers, Cross Rivers and Akwa Ibom states.
Gesila Khan allegedly got N185, 842,000 from the deal.
The other suspects and the alleged bribe against their names are Fidelia Omoile (Electoral Officer in Isoko-South Local Government Area of Delta State)—N112,480,000; Uluochi Obi Brown (INEC’s Administrative Secretary in Delta State)—N111,500,000; a former Deputy Director of INEC in Cross River State, Edem Okon Effanga— N241,127,000 and the Head of Voter Education in INEC in Akwa Ibom, Immaculata Asuquo—N214,127,000.
During its preliminary investigations, the EFCC discovered that the N23.29 billion was shared to INEC officials in all the 36 states, some individuals and Non-Governmental Organisations(NGOs), which deployed election monitors.
EFCC has already taken into its custody, Fidelity Bank Managing Director Nnamdi Okonkwo and the bank’s Head of Operations, Martin Izuogbe.
The EFCC shocked the embattled Resident Electoral Commissioner for Cross River State, Gesila Khan, with the video evidence which was retrieved from the CCTV tape showing how the transactions were carried out in a bank.
“At this stage, she had no choice but to admit. She is still in detention pending the conclusion of the ongoing investigation. If she hadn’t wasted time in owning up, the investigation would have reached a convenient bend to admit her to bail.
“The truth is that with modern technology, there is no hiding place for anybody again,” an EFCC official said in confidence.
Besides, some sensitive election materials meant for the 2015 presidential and senatorial polls were retrieved from the homes of some of the suspects.
EFCC operatives also recovered also many documents on financial and landed properties from the homes of the embattled INEC officials including receipts of payments made into their accounts .
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