Posted by By Tunde Odesola, Osogbo on
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has commenced investigation into the allegation of bribery against the five-member panel of the Osun Election Petitions Tribunal.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has commenced investigation into the allegation of bribery against the five-member panel of the Osun Election Petitions Tribunal.
The Spokesperson for the EFCC, Mr. Femi Babafemi, who made this known in Ada, Osun State on Monday, said the commission's Chairman, Mrs. Farida Waziri, ordered the investigation.
'The EFCC chairman has directed that the aspect of bribery in the petition by the Action Congress in the state should be looked into. Our officials know how to get their information,' he said.
Babafemi also told our correspondent that some officials of MTN Nigeria had already been invited to the commission's office in Abuja over the matter.
He described the investigation which began two weeks ago as 'intricate,' and explained that MTN officials were the first to be invited because their company was central to all issues raised in the AC's petition.
It was learnt that the EFCC had requested MTN to produce the call logs of the persons fingered in the petition.
When contacted around 9.19pm on Monday, the Head of Corporate Communications, MTN, Mrs. Funmi Omogbenigun, said she was not aware of the invitation of the officials of the company.
'I'm at home now. I can only respond to your enquiry tomorrow (today),' she said.
Investigation by our correspondent showed that the EFCC would soon invite members of the tribunal and some lawyers to Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola .
The Secretary of the Osun AC, Mr. Gboyega Famodun, had in the petition, urged the commission to investigate the basis of an alleged communication between some of the tribunal members and counsel to Oyinlola, Chief Kunle Kalejaye (SAN).
Specifically, the petition, which alleged that the communication compromised the integrity of the tribunal members, urged the EFCC to investigate all the SMS; voice messages and other related communication data in order to determine the level of complicity.
The AC had alleged that the tribunal Chairman, Justice Thomas Naron, and another member of the panel, Justice Joe Ekanem, had engaged in illegal telephone communication with Kalejaye.
The party also alleged that the communication was purportedly conducted to pervert the course of justice.
But the governor, who had vehemently denied the allegations of compromising the tribunal members, maintained that the AC had a bad case before the tribunal.
He argued that since the AC presented 'a poorly prepared petition,' the tribunal had no option than to throw it out.
Oyinlola had said, 'It's ridiculous that the AC, which forgot to include election results in its final submission, is crying wolf. How can a serious minded petitioner forget to submit election results in its final submission?'
AC governorship candidate in the 2007 governorship election, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, had on July 10, petitioned the President of the Court of Appeal urging him to dissolve the Osun State election petition tribunal.
Aregbesola, in a letter by his counsel, Kola Awodehin (SAN), urged that the revelation by a weekly magazine, The NEWS, that revealed details of telephone conversation between Kalejaye and members of the panel court doubt on the tribunal's ability to be fair.
Meanwhile, the EFCC may have quizzed some top officials of the Ondo State Government over alleged diversion of N12.5bn to secret accounts.
The News Agency of Nigeria quoted the commission's spokesman as having attributed the questioning to a series of petitions by some indigenes of state.
NAN said an invitation letter to the officials which was marked CR3000/EFCC/LS/EG5/VO/4/298 was signed by Kabiru Shehu for the EFCC chairman.
The letter dated July 28, 2008, stated that the commission was investigating a case of conspiracy, abuse of office and diversion of public fund by the officials.
However, Mr. Yemi Olowolabi, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Olusegun Agagu, said the allegation was unfounded.
Olowolabi described it as a diversionary tactic being employed by the opposition to attract sympathy.
NAN also reported that the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, invited the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Local Government, Chieftancy and Community Development, Dr. Deji Akinwalere, over alleged misappropriation of funds.
It quoted Mr. Sotonye Wakama, ICPC's Head of Department of Investigation, as saying that Akinwalere was directed to bring all records of statutory allocations to the 18 councils in the state from 2003 to date.
The ICPC also asked the permanent secretary to produce records of all the money released from the excess crude oil account to the councils from January 2008 to date.