N264.8m fraud: INEC officials know fate today

Justice Mohammed Idris of a Federal High Court in Lagos will today deliver a ruling on the no case submission filed by a former Kwara State Administrative Secretary of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Christian Nwosu, over an alleged N264.8 million fraud charge slammed on him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Nwosu was on March 7, re-arraigned before the court by the anti-graft agency alongside another INEC official, Tijani Bashir, on a 9-count charge of conspiring together to directly take possession of the money which they reasonably ought to have known forms part of an unlawful act.

They however pleaded not guilty to the charge. The money was said to be gratification from a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, to rig the 2015 general election. After the anti-graft agency closed its case, the duo rather than opening their defence opted for no case submissions.

Arguing the motions on Monday, defence lawyers, Victor Opara and K. I. Marcus, maintained that the evidences adduced so far by the prosecution had in no way linked their clients to the committal of the alleged offences and as such they should be discharged and acquitted.