Civil Society Network Against Corruption has asked the Economi and Finnacial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to probe Senator Dino Melaye, representing Kogi West, and Justice Akoh Ikpeme over alleged bribery. Sahara Reporters, an online news medium, had, on Tuesday, made public an audio in which Ikpeme demanded bribe from Melaye in the case between the senator and Smart Adeyemi, a senator under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
The group, in a statement signed by Olanrewaju Suraju, its chairman, said the EFCC should uncover the truth behind the tape.
“In the recordings which capture the telephone conversation between Justice (Mrs.) Akoh and Mr. Melaye, at two different times, the judge is overheard asking Mr. Melaye to give her a bribe in US dollars.
“She also sought Mr. Melaye’s assistance for a person he repeatedly referred to as her ‘daughter’ to secure a job at the Cross River State Ministry of Health, with the senator reassuringly bragging that he had already spoken to Governor Ben Ayade.
“It is worth noting that sometime in 2016, Justice Ikpeme dismissed a petition by Smart Adeyemi, Mr. Melaye’s opponent at the 2015 Kogi-West senatorial district election — in accordance with the plot of reaffirming the alleged electoral infractions associated with the emergence of Mr. Melaye,” the statement read.
