*Report clears Mashi, other fingered INEC staff
*Exonerates Yakubu, Commissioners of bribery by APC
By Eze Chukwu
Fresh indications have emerged showing that no N300 million meant for the allowance of the Ad-hoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was looted in the Kaduna State office of the commission during the last general election.
All allowances meant for INEC employees and Ad-Hoc staff, according to the sources, were paid through the banks with verifiable evidence.
Other findings showed that there was no trace of $100 to $10,000 bribery to INEC staff in state offices by the All Progressives Congress(APC).
It has also been established that the Administrative Secretary of the electoral body in Kaduna State, Mr. Awwal Mohammed Mashi, was never a friend or a course mate to the Chairman of the commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, or his Chief of Staff, Mr. Bashir Wase.
These findings were contained in separate reports by some security agencies and other credible sources, which were exclusively obtained by The AUTHORITY.
This newspaper had last week exclusively reported a petition by some INEC staff to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and some security agencies.
The petition was against Mr. Mashi, who is a senior official of INEC in the Kaduna State office.
The allegations were as follows:
*Deduction of promotion arrears of promoted staff of 2020;
*Being a “friend and course mate” of the Chairman of the Commission and “close friend” of Bashir Wase;
*Being an ex-convict having been jailed for 7 (seven) years in Australia on “drug related offences”;
*Corruption, sexual harassment, staff welfare deduction and impunity;
*Not qualified to occupy the office of Director representing Katsina state;
*Looting of Ad-Hoc staff allowance after 2019 General Election to the tune of N300m;
*Ruling party allegedly gave $100 to staff but only ICT personnel were given the money;
*37 States HODs, EOPs and HOD ICT/VR were allegedly given $10,000 in February;
*Under-payment of arrears to promoted staff, allegedly looted by “a confidant of the Chairman”.
But findings by the two of the security agencies, which have been scooped by our Investigative Unit, indicated that the allegation was without any foundation.
One of the security agencies described the petition as “contradictory, weak, baseless and unreliable,” we discovered.
The affected agency’s report uncovered the following:
“The subject matter of the petition is the Administrative Secretary of the Commission in Kaduna State, Mr. Awwal Mohammed Mashi;
“The petition is unsigned”. “The list attached to the petition is mischievous. It is the nominal roll of staff taken from the Annual Performance Evaluation Report (APER) score sheets for the 2022 promotion exercise in Kaduna State. It includes list of all staff, including those not promoted and even retirees.
“Most curiously, the first name on the list of petitioners is Awwal Mohammed Mashi, the subject matter of the petition itself. So did he sign the petition against himself?
“Even the acknowledgment letter from the EFCC is suspect. There is no signature and date of the petitioner/complainant in the appropriate space, and only the signature of the receiving staff but no date. “Most curiously, the telephone number has 12 digits instead of the standard 11 digits for mobile phones in Nigeria”.
Another security agency rated the petition as: “hollow, unsubstantiated and without official process expected of a paper with weighty allegations”.
The report said in part: “No N300 milion allowance for Ad-Hoc staff was kept with a cashier called Adamu because INEC does not operate a cash payment or a table payment system; “All allowances were paid electronically and the electronic transactions are traceable and retrievable.
“Promotion arrears in INEC were paid to the beneficiary staff directly from INEC Headquarters, not through the Administrative Secretary or any staff;
“The alleged list of ‘shortchanged’ staff was actually APER score sheets prepared for year 2022 promotion exercise for 2022;
“There is no close relationship between Mashi and INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu;
“No evidence of Mashi being a friend or a course mate to INEC chairman or his Chief of Staff.
“Apart from traveling to Saudi Arabia for Hajj, verification/security profiling showed that Mashi has never been to Australia, not to talk of being jailed.”
The report also gave a few insights into specific allegations against the Administrative Secretary, Mashi.
It stated: “On impunity, corruption and other administrative infractions, there were no concrete examples or cases cited in the petition. No staff has confronted Mashi or reported to INEC Headquarters.
“Regarding his qualification or status, he is Acting Administrative Secretary as the most Senior Deputy Director in the state.
“It is not an isolated designation as investigation confirmed that other Deputy Directors had been in acting position of directors at the headquarters and acting Administrative Secretaries at the state.
“Statistics made available confirmed that there are four Deputy Directors serving as Acting Directors at the headquarters and seven Deputy Directors as Acting Administrative Secretaries at the state level. “
Concerning the alleged bribery of INEC staff at the state level with $100 and $10,000, the report stated that there was no shred of proof other than insinuations.
It noted: “The fact that the petition was not signed has made it not credible and a mere hearsay.”
