An ex-Administrative Secretary with the
Independent National Electoral Commission, Mr. Christian Nwosu, on
Thursday alleged that he was cajoled into confessing to taking a bribe
of N30m to compromise the 2015 general elections.
Nwosu, who is being prosecuted before
the Federal High Court in Lagos for alleged bribery, claimed that the
three confessional statements he made to the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission on December 28, 2016 and March 15 and 22, 2017 were
not done voluntarily.
He claimed to have been threatened and
cajoled to make the confessional statements, adding that he was not
given the opportunity to consult his lawyer before he made the
statements.
He, however, admitted that he signed for and collected N30m from Fidelity Bank.
Nwosu stated this on Thursday while
being led in evidence by his lawyer, Mr. Victor Opara, during a
trial-within-trial ordered by Justice Mohammed Idris to test the
voluntariness of three confessional statements he made to the EFCC.
The EFCC accused him of conspiring with
two other INEC officials to take a total bribe of N264.88m from a former
Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, to
compromise the election.
He had earlier pleaded guilty to the
charges and opted for a plea bargain, after which the EFCC told the
court that it had already recovered N5m cash and a landed property worth
N25m from him.
But Nwosu later abandoned the plea
bargain after Justice Idris rejected the N500,000 fine proposed for him
as punishment by the EFCC.
Justice Idris had held that by virtue of
Section 16(2)(b) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, under which
Nwosu was charged, he was supposed to pay a fine of N10m or go to jail
for two years.
At his resumed trial on Thursday, he
maintained that he never voluntarily entered into a plea bargain with
the EFCC but was cajoled to do so.
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