Ex-BSIE Boss, Tersoo Joseph Loko
By Abdullahi Abubakar
The former Chairman of the Benue State Independent Electoral Commission, Dr Terso Loko, has spent his first night in custody over an alleged N1.1 billion fraud.
Recall that Justice M.S. Abubakar of the Federal High Court sitting in Makurdi, Benue State ordered the remand of Dr Loko, over the alleged fraud.
Loko and 10 others were on Wednesday January 28, 2026, arraigned before the court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC 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.
