An Ikeja high court has remanded one Wahab Hameed in the
custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged
vote buying during the 2023 presidential and national assembly elections.
The defendant, who was charged to the court by the EFCC with
a two-count charge bordering on conspiracy and bribery, pleaded not guilty on
Wednesday.
According to NAN, Samuel Daji, EFCC prosecutor, told the
court that the defendant on February 25, conspired with one Segun Ijitola, now
at large, to pay voters during the elections.
Daji said the defendant, an alleged member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) committed the offences along with his accomplice at Unit 28, Gbaja Girls Junior High School, in the Surulere area of Lagos.
The EFCC counsel told the court that the offences contravene
sections 121 (1) and (5); 121 (1) and 1 (3) of the electoral act, 2022.
Daji added that since the defendant had pleaded not guilty
to the charges, the court should grant a short adjournment to enable the
commission to fine-tune the facts of the case for a review.
Olabiyi Ademola, the defence counsel, conceded to a short
adjournment of the case to December 7 and prayed the court to remand his client
in the custody of EFCC.
The judge adjourned the trial to December 7 for a review of
facts and judgment.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had
said it would soon commence the prosecution of 1,076 electoral offenders
arrested in 35 states across the country during the general election.
A source from the commission said the prosecution would be
done in collaboration with the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and the police.
The source said 191 case files have been prepared for the
prosecution.
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com