INEC Denies Collecting Bribe From Jimoh Ibrahim

Nigeria’s electoral body, INEC has denied allegations made by Ondo state Guber candidate, Jimoh Ibrahim that an official of the commission, Mrs. Toyin Agbaje, asked for $1m bribe before his name could be inserted as the authentic candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) for the governorship elections in Ondo State slated for November 26th.

The commission released the statement below;

The Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) attention has been drawn to several newspaper reports published on Monday October 24, 2016, in which Mr. Jimoh Ibrahim alleged that the Commission’s Acting Director, Legal Services Mrs. Toyin Babalola asked for $1,000,000 (One million U.S dollars) bribe from him, before the order made by justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja Division could be complied with by the Commission. He also accused the Commission’s Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Ondo State, Mr.,Segun Agbaje of some “dirty deals.”

According to it front-page report by the National Mirror of October 24, 2016, a newspaper in which Mr. Ibrahim has substantial interests, Mrs. Babalola was alleged to have said: “I should bring U.S $1 million before she can do her job. She insisted that she will not obey the court order and if I don’t pay, she will not do It unless we bring another court order.”

In the same report, Mr. Ibrahim also alleged that the Ondo REC “requested to hold a meeting with him (Ibrahim) in far away London, in the United Kingdom.