George Okoh
The Makurdi Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), yesterday arraigned the Chairman, Benue State Independent Electoral Commission (BSIEC), Tersoo Joseph; the Secretary, Serki Mtomba Manaseh; the Treasurer, Akange Akula and five other members/commissioners :Abe Aboyi Augustine, Donald Kertyo, Agber Aondona Emmanuel, Sunday Agbaji, and Ekoja Daniel before Justice Abdu Dogo of the Federal High Court sitting in Makurdi, Benue State capital.
The defendants were docked on a 23-count charge bordering on conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, misappropriation, forgery and money laundering to the tune of N500,000,00,
Count one of the charge reads: “That you Hon. Tersoo Joseph, the Chairman of Benue State Independent Electoral Commission (BSIEC), Hon. Serki Mtomga Manasseh, the Secretary of BSIEC, Hon. Akange Akula, the Chief Accountant of BSIEC, Hon. Abe Aboyi Augustine, the Commissioner for Planning, Research and Documentation of BSIEC, Hon. Donald Kertyo, the Commissioner for Operations of BSIEC; Hon. Agber Aondona Emmanuel, the Commissioner for Works and Transport of BSIEC, Hon. Sunday Agbaji, the Commissioner for Information and Public Affairs of BSIEC, Hon. Ekoja Daniel, the Commissioner for Finance of BSIEC, sometime between February to June, 2020, in Makurdi, Benue State, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did conspire amongst yourselves to commit felony to wit: money laundering and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18(a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (As Amended) and punishable under Section 16(2)(b) of the same Act”.