Gists
Ex Rivers Resident Electoral Commissioner, Gesila Khan Remanded In EFCC As N180m Bribe Case Begins
A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt on Wednesday ordered that a former Resident Electoral Commissioner, Rivers State, Mrs Gesila Khan, should be remanded in the cell of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Khan, who was arrested in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital on Sunday by EFCC operatives, was arraigned for allegedly receiving a gratification of over N180m from yet-to-be-identified persons before the 2015 general election in the state.
It was gathered that the alleged gratification was for the outcome of the general election in Rivers State to be altered in favour of a particular political party.
Also arraigned alongside Khan was a former INEC official, Mr Peter Popnin, who was said to have assisted the former Rivers REC in taking delivery of the funds.
However, when the counsel for Khan, Mr S. Larry (SAN), applied for the bail of his client, Justice Sailu Saidu decided that the application for Khan’s bail was not yet ripe.
While Popnin was granted bail, Khan was remanded in EFCC cell till Friday, June 9, 2017 when the application for the former REC’s bail would be considered.
Popnin was granted bail in the sum of N100m, two sureties, even as the court pointed out that one of the sureties must be resident in the state.
According to Justice Saidu, one of the sureties must also own a landed property within Port Harcourt, while the second surety must be a civil servant of not lower than Grade 15 in Rivers State or the Federal Civil Service.
One of the counsels for the EFCC, Mr Oyelakin Oyediran, had earlier argued against taking Khan back to the anti-graft agency’s cell, but the court insisted that she should be remanded in EFCC custody till June 9, 2017.
Oyediran had submitted that having been arraigned, the ex-Rivers REC should be taken to the Port Harcourt prison, but the argument was not taken by Justice Saidu, who adjourned the matter till June 9.
The court had earlier stated that apart from the sureties producing two passport photographs, the court registrar should verify the identities of the sureties.
Popnin was, however, told to submit his passport to the court registrar.
Khan was first arrested in 2015 and had been on administrative bail before she was rearrested by the anti-corruption agency on Sunday, June 4, 2017.
Punch
