BY Ebunoluwa Olafusi
The federal high court in Lagos has convicted Christian Nwosu, an ex-administrative secretary with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), of bribery.
He was convicted on Thursday by Mohammed Idris, the presiding judge.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had charged Nwosu, alongside two other INEC officials, for allegedly taking a bribe of N264.88 million from Diezani Alison-Madueke, former minister of petroleum resources.
He was found guilty of benefiting from the money Alison-Madueke allegedly doled out to compromise the 2015 elections.
The EFCC said Nwosu collected N30 million from the funds.
During the trial in 2017, Nwosu had admitted to receiving N30m out of the N264.8m, saying he did not benefit from the money but spent it on logistics.
“I did not personally benefit from the N30m,” Nwosu had said.
“The ad hoc staff benefitted because the election went smoothly with the assistance of the logistics support. My commission was aware of the money and the evidence was that the election went smoothly.”
Nwosu said he was forced by the EFCC into admitting that he collected the bribe from Alison-Madueke, adding that the three confessional statements he made to the commission in December 2016 and March 2017 were not given voluntarily.
He also said he was not given the opportunity to consult his lawyer before making the confessional statements.
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