Presidential poll : Varsity professor in trouble over N20 m election bribe largess

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Presidential poll : Varsity professor in trouble over N20 m election bribe largess

By Steve Oko

A certain professor in one of the federal universities in a South Eastern State has landed himself into trouble over alleged election bribe largess.

The professor allegedly received N10 million each from the two major political parties at the February 23 presidential and national assembly elections.

This is as the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, has called for the immediate removal of all compromised staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in Abia State.

The state Chairman of APGA, Rev. Augustine Ehiemere who made the call at a press conference in Umuahia alleged that some corrupt INEC staff in Abia were under the pay roll of the state Government, an allegation INEC dismissed as untenable.

He claimed that the affected staff most of whom had overstayed in the state collude with the government to rig the polls in favour of the government in power.

According to an insider source, the said professor who served as a Local Government Collation Officer during the polls, allegedly collected N10 million each from the agents of the two major parties.

The largess was meant to serve as inducement for the professor and probably his colleagues in his unit to enable them protect the interest of the parties.

But unknown to any of the parties, the university don was also dealing with their opponents all at the same time.

Trouble however, started when he later decided to favour only one of his clients at the expense of the other.

Apparently irked by the action of the professor, agents of the shortchanged political party decided to report the matter to the Vice -Chancellor in protest.

Wawa News Global reliably gathered that the Vice -Chancellor who was embarrassed by the development raised the matter at the Senate meeting of the university.

The visibly aggrieved VC reportedly ordered the affected professor to immediately refund the largess or be shamefully disgraced.

The VC who also served as a State Collation Officer for the presidential poll vowed to investigate reports of financial inducement among the university’s staff on election duty.

Meanwhile, the rumour mills are awash with reports of alleged heavy financial inducement among Collation Officers and other categories of INEC ad-hoc staff during the polls.

According to the rumour, some Ward Collation Officers were allegedly offered N350,000 to help deliver a particular presidential candidate.

Some of the Collation Officers, however turned down the offer insisting on the right things while others saw it as an opportunity to enrich themselves.

Speculations are also rife that the two major political parties are seriously gearing up for the March 9 governorship and house of assembly polls.

There are rumours that while one party is budgeting N300,000 and N500,000 for Ward Collation Officer and the LGA Collation Officer respectively ,the other party is arranging N500,000 and N1 million for the same categories of officers.

The rumour said while the parties in some Councils had allegedly found their contact persons among the Collation Officers to help in the disbursement of the largess to their colleagues, others are still in search of reliable link men in some LGAs.

There are also reports that some of the Collation Officers are trying to be cautious as the security agents may later trail them.

There is a theory that one of the political parties may have arranged with the law enforcement agents to share marked money with the intention of retrieving the loot in the eventuality of its loss at the poll.

Election duty has become highly competitive among university lecturers and senior non academic staff, an unhealthy development, watchers believe may not be unconnected with financial inducement.

There were unconfirmed reports that some university workers on election duty at the just -concluded poll went home with as much as N1 million.

Some of them reportedly shortchanged their colleagues as they allegedly absconded with the largess meant for others.

There are fears that operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, or the secrete police may be unleashed on the university workers on election duty both during and after the exercise.

The ant-graft agency may among other options, consider placing their bank accounts under security watch.

End

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Steve Oko, Publisher/C.E.O, WaWa News Global. For more information on advert placement and news coverage, contact us on: 08038725600, or via email stevemanofgod2000@yahoo.com; wawanewsglobal@gmail.com Always read WaWa News Global - Your most dependable online news platform for the latest breaking news in Nigeria.