A returning officer in last Saturday’s ward congress of the All progressives Congress, APC, in Shomolu local Government Area, Lagos (name withheld) has admitted that he received N100, 000 bribe to alter the result of the election held in the council.
He made the confessional statement when he was arrested by the men of Onipanu Police Division, following the protest that trail the exercise.
In an interaction with Nigerian Pilot after his release, the suspect who has been ordered to routinely report to the police for further interrogation said the money came from a commissioner in the state.
According to him, he did not know that the said commissioner used him to steal the people’s mandate.
He said: “After I collected all materials for the congress poll at the state APC’s secretariat at Acme, I went to the party’s secretariat at Somolu for the election. It was peaceful and successful, we started to record the result when someone came and picked me with a commissioner’s vehicle, and we drove to a hotel in the area.
“At the hotel, they collected the original result of the congress and gave me a recorded sheet. When I wanted to protest, they told me not to worry that nothing will happen. This is what I submitted at the party’s secretariat. The man who claimed to be working for the commissioner gave me N100, 000.
“When I asked what the N100, 000 was for; the man said the commissioner gave the money for our entertainment. I never knew that I was paid to steal the people’s mandate. I am very sorry for what I have caused the people of Shomolu, I beg for their forgiveness; and I am ready to repeat these claims any day,” he said.
Following his confession, the aggrieved members of APC in the council, have called for the re-run of the congress election in all the wards in the area.
In a statement signed by one of the party leaders in the area, Mr. L. A. Yussuf, he said the election which was held in the eight wards had results altered by the retuning officer.
He named the authentic retuning officers as Prince B. A. Adeyemi, Morufu Oropo, Kunle Akinseyinwa, one Alhaji Adeyemi and Hakeem Gusu Dawodu.
Source: Nigerian Pilot
