A principal actor in the controversial Anambra governorship election
of November 16 has reportedly made sterling revelations to his
interrogators in Abuja. Mr Okeke Chukwujekwu, the electoral officer in charge of Idemili North...
local government area of Anambra State, currently in police detention
over his role in the electoral saga, was said to have told his police
investigators that he was "being used and dumped".
The chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC),
Professor Attahiru Jega, had, in the heat of the controversies
generated by the flawed poll, admitted that the "electoral officer" in
Idemili North "messed up" and that he would be handed over to the
police for prosecution.
Chukwujekwu was moved to Abuja on Sunday, just as INEC said it was
conducting a probe into the deliberate sabotage of the governorship
election.
A top official involved in the election confided in LEADERSHIP
yesterday that the arrested INEC official had made useful statements
even as he was apprehensive that top directors of INEC might be
"implicated".
"The way this whole thing is going, it looks as if many heads will
roll in INEC because the young man has made useful statements and if
what he said is anything to rely upon, it then means that some big
names in that commission might fall with him.
"At first, he was trying to rationalise his action in that local
government area when he was verbally quizzed before the intervention
of the police; but, after some time, especially at the point of his
detention, he started to cooperate but the cooperation is loaded
because he has mentioned some top officials of INEC, especially
directors and a PDP chieftain, as those who 'put him in trouble'.
Although the source declined to disclose the identities of those
involved, he said "preliminary confessions" point to the fact that the
bungled election in most LGAs of the state was "packaged by aggrieved
politicians in connivance with top INEC officials both in Abuja and
Awka" adding: "It was a well-funded package."
"All fingers point to some aggrieved politicians and it was a
well-funded package that involved quite a lot of people; that is why
the man is saying he has been used and dumped," he said.
Meanwhile, Jega has said all enquiries regarding arrests made in the
bungled Anambra election should be referred to the police.
Jega's chief press secretary, Kayode Idowu, told LEADERSHIP on the
telephone that INEC would not comment on the arrested official who
allegedly played a key role in the flawed poll.
"One, I cannot say anything on his matter because the police has taken
over a larger chunk of the matter; only the police can say something
on the role of the man arrested and how far they have gone with their
investigation; so you have to contact the police.
"Again, it will be out of place for me to reel out what the commission
intends to do. Mind you, INEC is also carrying out its administrative
interrogation on his matter," he said.
This is what I wanna hear. The Police should ensure that all the conspirators that sabotaged the Anambra election be openly named and brought to book.
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