Aluko
Indications emerged over the weekend that the Federal Government, through the office of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), will soon begin the prosecution of those fingered in the alleged rigging of the 2014 Ekiti and Osun governorship elections.
This followed a report by the Nigerian Army forwarded to the office of the AGF after its investigation. The report, according to the source, found some of the officers of the Nigerian Army culpable. In addition, the report indicted some civilians. The military authorities had sanctioned the indicted officers. Just last week, some of the senior officers indicted in the election malpractices were retired.
Those civilians listed for prosecution, according to an impeccable source, are a former Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State, Dr. Tope Aluko, some former ministers in the Goodluck Jonathan-led administration and a member of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the PDP. Other indicted civilians awaiting prosecution are prominent members of PDP in Ekiti State and six members of the Ekiti State House of Assembly.
A former senator in one of the two states is also indicted. The source added that the prosecution may commence this month. New Telegraph recalls that the Nigerian Army had, in October 2015, set up a high-powered Board of Inquiry (BOI) to investigate serious malpractices involving its personnel and to review the involvement of its formations/ units and their officials in elections and other duties. In addition, the Department of State Services (DSS) also set up a panel of inquiry to look into the alleged rigging of the Ekiti governorship poll, those involved and the level of complicity. The Nigerian Police also carried out its investigation.
The military BoI investigated the alleged unprofessional and unethical conduct of some Nigerian Army personnel in Ekiti and Osun States’ Gubernatorial Elections in 2014, as well as in any other state in Nigeria where other allegations of misconduct were made during the 2015 general elections in the country. Already, the military has sanctioned all its officers involved and, at the same time, forwarded its reports to the office of the AGF.
New Telegraph, however, scooped that arrangements have been concluded to prosecute those indicted by the reports. Aluko had testified before the military panel where he revealed how money was released by the then PDP-led Federal Government to the Ekiti State chapter of the PDP and Governor Ayodele Fayose for the alleged rigging of the elections. Though Aluko is said to be the star witness in the suit, but according to the source, that will not stop him from being prosecuted for being at the centre of the electoral malpractice.
An online medium had, in 2015, reported how some leaders of the PDP, in collusion with some army officers led by Brig.- Gen. Aliyu Momoh, the then commander of the 32nd Artillery Brigade stationed in Ekiti State, rigged the gubernatorial elections in Ekiti State in 2014.
The report included documents and audio recordings prepared and provided by Sagir Koli, a Captain in the 32nd Artillery Brigade stationed in Ekiti State who accompanied Momoh to a key PDP planning meeting in Ado-Ekiti on June 20, 2014 ahead of the Ekiti election. Captain Koli later fled the country for fear of his life, but his teenage secondary school brother was arrested and tortured by army officials. Koli had been absorbed into the military.
The Minister of Defence, Brig-Gen. Mansur Dan Ali (rtd), had at the just-concluded Nuclear Security Summit, revealed that Momoh’s career in the military had been terminated after the report of a military panel that investigated the unprofessional conduct of officers and soldiers during the elections in Ekiti and Osun states indicted him alongside other soldiers. The board of inquiry, chaired by Adeniyi Oyebade, a Major General, made “far-reaching recommendations” meant to assist the army in future involvement in civil elections. In arriving at the recommendations, the board spoke to 62 officers, over 100 soldiers and 62 civilians.
According to the statement, the board recommended the compulsory retirement of two officers from the army. It also recommended that three officers should lose their commands and another recommended for prosecution for collecting financial gratification.
The board further recommended the placing of 15 officers on watch list while nine others were to be handed over to the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) for further investigations following allegations of corruption against them. Six officers are to face an audit committee and 62 officers (mostly of the rank of Majors below) were to be given letters of displeasure and to appear before their respective General Officers Commanding for counselling, the board also advised.