The House House of Representatives ad hoc Committee on assessment and status of all recovered loots, movable and immovable assets from 2002 to 2020 on Tuesday made a huge discovery on the 2016 rerun governorship elections in Rivers state.
Specifically, the committee discovered that the sum of N360million was allegedly given as bribe to Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials during the rerun in Rivers State.
It was also established that governor Nyesom Wike allegedly offered the amount as bribe to 23 INEC officials during the exercise but the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) was able to successfully recover N114million only.
The following discoveries were made at the resumed hearing of the House investigative panel on Tuesday as the representative of the Nigeria Police Force, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police, Mr Joseph Egbonike was asked questions on recoveries it has made so far during the time under review.
In the cause of cross examination of documents submitted by the NPF on the subject matter, the Committee sought for more detail explanation on the alleged N360million recovery funds linked to governor Nyesom Wike.
According to the DIG, “the said matter is still in court and I wouldn’t want to speak much on it but the said amount you are referring to was recovered from 23 officials of INEC during the 2016 rerun elections of the National and State Assembly which was rigged in favor of PDP. Although, the persons involved have been prosecuted and convicted but the matter has been appealed and not dispense.
However it was further revealed that out of the N360million million given as bribe to the INEC officials, N144million was recovered.
According to the documents, “During the 10th December, 2016, National and State Assembly rerun elections in Rivers State, efforts were put to rig the said election through inducement, bribery and intimidation of electoral officials, as the sum of three hundred and sixty million naira (N360, 000,000.00) was given by governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, to twenty three (23) electoral officials, deployed to Rivers State from Anambra, Oyo and Plateau States, to compromise and influence the outcome of the election. consequently, on receipt of the intelligence, our investigation panel under the IGP Monitoring unit was set up, following which the sum of 114 million, two hundred and and ninety thousand (114, 290, 000.00) was recovered from the 23 INEC officials and deposited into the Central Bank of Nigeria. “Account Name: IGP Special Joint Investigation Panel on Rivers Re-ruElection of 10/12/2016 with RemitaRetrieval Reference number 3401-58076328. Details of payment and breakdown of the recovery are attached here, Appendix ‘C&C1-Summary of recovery from 23 INEC OfficialsC2-Payment slips into CBN Account Zenith Bank with Remita Retrie reference number 3401-5807-6328.
“All suspects are being prosecuted before the Federal high Court, Port Harcourt, River State by the Attorney General and Minister of Justice of the Federation”.