The Resident Electoral Commissioner in Yobe State,
Abu Zarma, on Thursday refused to show up at the
state Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting
in Abuja, where he was scheduled to testify,
particularly on the aspect of the petition levelling a
N15m bribery allegation against him.
The petitioners, the Peoples Democratic Party and its
candidate in the April 11, 2015 Yobe State
governorship election, Adamu Waziri, are by their
petition challenging the declaration of the candidate
of the All Progressives Congress, Ibrahim Gaidam, as
the winner of the poll.
The respondents to the petition are Governor
Gaidam, his party, the APC, the Independent National
Electoral Commission, Zarma and the governor’s
Aide-de-Camp, Zakari Deba.
The petitioners had urged the Justice Mojisola Dada-
led tribunal to nullify the election and order a fresh
one to be conducted due to alleged irregularities and
corrupt practices that marred the previous one.
They alleged that Governor Gaidam, through Deba,
who is an Assistant Superintendent of Police, had
induced the the REC by paying a total sum of N15m
into two of his (REC) bank accounts some days to the
April 11 poll.
The REC (Zarma) who is one of the respondents to
the petition was scheduled to open his case on
Thursday, but he refused to show up at the tribunal
and no witness testified for him.
At the Thursday’s proceedings, the joint counsel for
both Zarma and INEC, Abeny Mohammed (SAN),
announced to the tribunal that his clients had elected
to close their case without calling any witness.
He said the decision to close their case followed a
review of the petitioners’ case after the proceedings
were adjourned in deference to the death of one of
the members of the tribunal, Justice Audu Bako.
He said, “The short adjournment afforded me the
opportunity to review and evaluate evidence adduced
by the petitioners.
“Our conclusion is that we are not calling any
witness, but to rest our case on the case of the
petitioner. I therefore close the case of the 3rd and
4th respondents (Zarma and INEC) in this petition.”
Justice Dada then closed their case and called on the
last respondent – Governor Gaidam’s ADC, Deba – to
open his own case on Friday.
Deba’s lawyer, Titus Ashaolu (SAN), assured the
tribunal that his client’s witnesses would attend the
Friday’s proceedings.
In their effort to prove the allegation, the petitioners
called officials of the banks and an investigator with
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission as
their witnesses. The three witnesses confirmed the
payment.
While testifying on August 12, an Investigating Officer
attached to the Economic Governance Team 7 of the
EFCC, Christopher Adekunle Odofin said N15m was
actually lodged into Zarma’s two accounts with Zenith
and Diamond banks, but that the lodgements were
reversed some days later, when Zarma protested.
Odofin, who said he was part of the team
investigating the case, said, although the
investigation had not been concluded, his team had
made substantial discoveries and had also made
some recommendations.
He said his team discovered that on April 8, three
days to the April 11, 2015 governorship election,
Assistant Superintendent of Police, Zakari Deba (the
aide de camp to Governor Gaidam) caused a
Diamond Bank’s Assistant Branch Manager
(Damaturu), Bamaji Mohammed Kukawa to pay N7m
and N8m into Zarma’s accounts with Diamond and
Zenith Banks.
Odofin added that on April 9, 2015, Zarma
complained to both banks, in writing, that wrong
deposits were made into his accounts, to which the
banks’ management’s asked him to issue cheques in
the amounts deposited, to enable them reverse the
transactions.
He said their investigation also revealed that Zarma
equally wrote, on April 29 to the Chairman of INEC,
complaining about the strange cash deposits in his
accounts.
Odofin said investigation further revealed that based
on the cheques issued by Zarma, the banks reversed
the deposits and returned the money to an account
maintained with GTB by a company known as Saleh &
Hanif.
He said checks at the Corporate Affairs Commission
linked the company to Deba, who was also
discovered to be the sole signatory to the company’s
accounts.
He added that their report indicted Deba, who as a
serving police officer floated a private company,
which was an illegal act.
“We recommended that Deba and Kukawa be
prosecuted for attempting to bribe Zarma,” Odofin
said.
The tribunal had adjourned for some days in view of
the sudden death of a member of its panel, Justice
Bako.
Before the commencement of proceedings yesterday,
lawyers in the case took turn to commiserate with the
rest of the tribunal members over Justice Bako’s
sudden death.

Source:www.punchng.com/news/rec-shuns-yobe-tribunal-testimony-in-alleged-n15m-bribery/

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