… As Official Denies Bribery Scandal

The Supervisory Pre
siding Officer (SPO) with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Ted Francis, on Wednesday denied accusing the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Baritor Kpagir, of collecting N200 million from Governor Henry Seriake Dickson to compromise the governorship election in the state.
The Tide learnt that the All Progressives Congress (APC) had claimed that Francis had allegedly claimed on oath that Dickson allegedly bribed the REC to the tune of N200 million to compromise the election.
But in an interview with the African Independent Television (AIT), Francis came out to forcefully deny and denounce such statement credited to him by the APC as blackmail against INEC and attempt to discredit the election.
He said he was shocked to hear that his name was being peddled in the media for something he knew nothing about, noting that he felt embarrassed that such a statement could be fabricated to tarnish his name and that of the electoral body.
‘I want to use this opportunity to state categorically that I never said anything like that as the APC was only playing to the gallery. The statement was totally strange to me and I feel highly embarrassed by it all”, he said.
The Ijaw Youth Congress (IYC) had in a statement signed by its Central Zonal Chairman, Bobolaiyefa Owopelei, dismissed the allegation as a figment of the imagination of the enemies of democracy and the Ijaw nation.