Justice M.S. Abubakar of the Federal High Court in Makurdi, Benue State, has ordered the remand of Dr. Terso Loko, former Chairman of the Benue State Independent Electoral Commission, over an alleged N1.1 billion fraud.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission charged Loko and ten individuals on Wednesday with 30 counts of illegal theft of public funds and money laundering.
Others charged with him are Kuleve Kelvin Terlumun, Serki Mtomga Manasseh, Ugbede Denen Ronald, Tatyough Thaddeus, Angwa Dominic Terhember, Uwua Benjamin Igbawua, Adese Asom, Orkuma Emmanuel Nyiusta, Owoicho Odeh, and Mhir Iyenge.
The former head of the electoral commission was arrested by the EFCC’s Makurdi Zonal Directorate in response to a petition alleging widespread diversion of monies provided for the state’s local government elections.
According to the suit, Loko misused his position by misappropriating and diverting monies intended for the 2020 and 2022 local government elections, for which N985,403,001.74 and N680 million were released, respectively.
The petitioner further claimed that only N565,039,506 was used for the two elections out of a total of N1,665,403,100, leaving N1,100,363,594 supposedly unaccounted.
One of the charges read in part, “That you, Dr Tersoo Joseph Loko, whilst serving as Chairman of the Benue State Independent Electoral Commission, sometime in 2022 in Makurdi, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, abused your office by directly receiving a cash payment of N118,166,000 from BSIEC funds, which you diverted for your personal use, knowing or reasonably ought to have known that the money represented proceeds of unlawful activity, to wit: criminal misappropriation and abuse of public office.”
Another count charged the former BSIEC chairman with receiving and diverting N110,905,000 from commission funds, in contravention of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended).
When the charges were read to the defendants, they all pleaded not guilty.
Following the plea, counsel for the EFCC, M.S. Yusuf, begged the court to set a trial date so that the prosecution could prove its case.
In his ruling, Justice Abubakar granted the accused N50 million bail apiece, with one surety in the same amount.
The judge determined that each surety must have a valid international passport, which must be submitted to the court registrar. He further ordered that all accused provide their own international passports to the court.
However, Justice Abubakar ordered that the defendants be held in custody awaiting completion of their bail terms.
