Thursday, 1st July 2021: The conviction of a former electoral officer earlier jailed for receiving N362 million as part of bribe shared by the then Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, to influence the outcome of the 2015 elections, has been affirmed by the Court of Appeal, Yola Division, Adamawa State.

Ibrahim Umar was then an official of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Yola South Local Government Area when he received the bribe, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), said in a statement on Wednesday.

EFCC’s spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, who signed the statement, said the Adamawa State High Court, had earlier convicted Mr Umar of three counts.

The judge subsequently sentenced him to seven years’ imprisonment.

“Umar was arraigned alongside a former staff of a new generation bank by the EFCC on September 28, 2018.

“During the trial, EFCC called 14 witnesses and tendered several documents which were admitted in evidence

“Justice Nathan Musa, in his judgment, held that EFCC proved its case beyond reasonable doubt as investigation proved that the convict was identified as the person who signed and collected the said sum and was unable to account for its whereabouts,” the statement added.

It also said Mr Umar “was therefore convicted and sentenced to seven years imprisonment without an option of fine on all the counts.”

Dissatisfied with the judgement, the convict approached the Court of Appeal, Yola Division on March 4, 2020 asking that the judgment of the lower court be set aside.

The appellate court on April 14, 2021 delivered its judgement, wherein it unanimously affirmed the judgment of the lower court.

Mrs Alison-Madueke who is believed to have fled to the United Kingdom after leaving office in 2015 also has corruption charges pending against her at the Federal High Court in Abuja.

EFCC has often expressed frustration it has faced in its efforts to extradite her to face her charges in Nigeria.