Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday stormed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Zamfara state office and recovered bags containing monies.
The recovered monies were believed to be part of the N84.6 million ad-hoc staff entitlements diverted by some heads of departments of the commission during the 2019 general elections.
A source told Daily Trust that the EFCC operatives arrived at the INEC office in Gusau on a Toyota Hiace bus around 12noon and left the premises at about 2:00pm carrying the four bags containing the money. The monies were said to have been taken from the commission’s accountant office.
The operatives of the EFCC had earlier arrested and grilled four staff of the INEC in the state as the suspects were brought to the INEC office in Gusau and were taken back after search was conducted on their offices.
“The operatives of the EFCC also took away some documents and they left the INEC’s office with the suspects they brought and the documents they recovered,” the source said.
The arrest of the INEC staff followed a petition by one of the ad-hoc staff recruited for the conduct of 2019 general elections in the state.
The aggrieved ad-hoc staff had alleged that they were short-changed by the INEC staff during the payment of their duty allowances.
The EFCC had earlier said none of the 10,000 ad-hoc staff was paid their entitlement cumulatively to the tune of N84 million as what was paid to the ad-hoc staff in the state was different from what was obtainable in other states.