The Federal High Court, Lagos has dismissed separate bail applications filed by two convicted former staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Christian Nwosu and Tijani Bashir.
Nwosu was a former administrative secretary of INEC’s Kwara State office while Bashir was the Head of Accounts in the same office.
Both men were convicted in Jan. 2019, by the court for receiving the sum of N264.8 million gratification from the former Petroleum Minister, Diezani Allison-Madueke in the build-up to the 2015 General Elections.
The money was said to have been received as bribes for the purpose of influencing the outcome of the 2015 elections in Kwara State.
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The two men were convicted and sentenced to seven years imprisonment each.
Dissatisfied with their convictions, they approached the Court of Appeal to upturn the judgment. They also filed bail applications before the lower court, seeking for their release from prison pending the determination of their appeal.
In his ruling on their bail applications on Monday, Justice Ayokunle Faji held that the convicts’ applications lacked merit.
The court ruled that the convicts failed to show cause why their applications should be granted.
