Thursday, January 29, 2026 - Justice M.S. Abubakar of the Federal High Court sitting in Makurdi, Benue State, has ordered the remand of the former Chairman of the Benue State Independent Electoral Commission, Dr Terso Loko, over an alleged N1.1 billion fraud.
Loko and 10 others were on Wednesday arraigned before the
court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on 30 counts bordering on
criminal misappropriation of public funds and money laundering.
Others charged alongside 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 electoral commission boss was arrested by the
Makurdi Zonal Directorate of the EFCC following a petition alleging large-scale
diversion of funds released for the conduct of local government elections in
the state.
According to the petition, the complainant alleged that Loko
abused his office by misappropriating and diverting funds meant for the 2020
and 2022 local government elections, for which sums of N985,403,001.74 and
N680m, respectively, were released.
The petitioner further alleged that only N565,039,506 was
utilised for the two elections out of a total of N1,665,403,100, leaving
N1,100,363,594 allegedly unaccounted for.
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 alleged that the former BSIEC chairman
similarly received and diverted N110,905,000 from commission funds, in
violation of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended).
All the defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges when
they were read to them.
Counsel to the EFCC, M.S. Yusuf, following the plea, urged
the court to fix a trial date to enable the prosecution to prove its case.
In his ruling, Justice Abubakar granted the defendants bail
in the sum of N50m each, with one surety in like sum.
The judge ruled that each surety must possess a valid
international passport, which must be deposited with the court registrar. He
also ordered all defendants to submit their own international passports to the
court.
However, Justice Abubakar ordered that the defendants be
remanded in custody pending the perfection of their bail conditions.
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