EFCC grills INEC officials for alleged diversion of N84m staff allowances

The Sokoto zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has arrested four officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Zamfara State for alleged conspiracy, breach of trust and criminal diversion of ad hoc staff allowance to the tune of N84.6 million.

This was made known by EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, in a statement issued to reporters on Tuesday.

According to him, those grilled include the Administrative Secretary, Hassan Aliyu, Head of Operations, Hussain Jafar, State Accountant, Abdullahi Abubakar and Abdulmumin Usman

Uwujaren said their arrest followed a petition by one Abdullahi Nasiru, who alleged that the ad hoc staff who worked for INEC during the 2019 presidential and gubernatorial elections in Zamfara State, were not paid their N6,000 movement allowance.

“Investigation by the EFCC revealed that none of the 10,500 presiding officers who participated in the elections were paid their entitlements put at N84, 696,000,” the statement said.

The anti-graft agency said efforts were being made to recover the money diverted by the three INEC heads of department and Electoral Officers of the 14 local governments in Zamfara.