No fewer than six more permanent staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Abia State were said to have been invited for interrogation by detectives at the Zone 9 Police Headquarters over an alleged attempt to steal card readers from the Umuahia office of the commission.
This is coming 48 hours after two Information Communication Technology employees of INEC, Herbert Ejimofor and Nnamdi Nwabuko, were quizzed by the police for allegedly attempting to smuggle seven card readers from INEC strong-room.
With the latest arrest, a total of eight INEC employees, including the Confidential Secretary to the Resident Electoral Commissioner, are now being grilled by the police in connection with the incident.
The REC, Prof. Selina Oko, said she never authorised the removal of any sensitive material from the commission’s premises and distanced herself from the deal.
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She said, “I only learnt about the incident today (Tuesday). I was told there was a vehicle belonging to one of our staff which had sensitive materials, and I found out it was true. Then I asked him, ‘Do you mean you leave this place with sensitive materials without my authorisation?’
“So, there was no authorisation to remove materials. In fact, the long and short of it is that I have handed them over to the police.”
“If they had sought my approval, I wouldn’t have approved it, because even myself, I find it difficult to take away sensitive material. The only sensitive material I have authorised to move is when my boss, Prof. Attahiru Jega, tells me to send this or that.
“All I did was to go to his (suspect’s) car and started asking him why were you doing that? And he said he was going to work with it. And I asked him, ‘Without my permission?’ But since the police is already involved, I will leave the police to do their work.
“Police should investigate and take the right action and if they need information from me, I will provide.”
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Zone 9, Mr. Emmanuel Jiakponna, confirmed that more suspects had been invited by the police for questioning.
He declined to give details of the outcome of the investigations so far but simply said investigations were on going.
Asked whether the suspects were detained by the police, the Zonal PPRO said, “How can they be allowed to go considering the nature of the investigation?”
Meanwhile, the two main political parties in the state have been trading blames on whose script the suspects might be acting.
The Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Uchechi Ogbuka, distanced the PDP from any dealing with the suspects.
He said, “They may be working for the opposition who are crying wolf.
“PDP has nothing to do with the suspects and they couldn’t have been working for us because we are decent and cannot be involved in criminality,” he said.
In his own reaction, the National Vice Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, South East, Chief Uchenna Okogbuo, called on the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, to ensure that the matter was not swept under the carpet.
He said that the suspects should be made to face the full wrath of the law “to serve as deterrent to others.’’
He said, “All the INEC staff that colluded with desperate politicians in the state to subvert the wishes of the people expressed through the ballot should be made to face the full weight of the law.”
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