*FBI, USCIS Investigation confirms she voted in 2012, 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2024, facing up to six years in prison and a fine of $250,000
*63-year-old a resident of Katy, Texas, is ineligible to vote during elections being an alien
*Plead for mercy, blame ignorance and temptation from the Devil as reasons
*“I am a mother, grand mother from Nigeria. I don’t know that Permanent Residents (Green Card Holders) are not entitled to vote in United States election. The voting card was sent into my mailbox, so I just filled it up. I am asking for mercy because I was ignorant and I saw people around doing similar thing. I won’t lie I claimed to be an American citizen in the form which I checked its box. I am having serious health issues now, and I don’t think I will survive if I go to jail”-SUSPECT
*BY DR SAMSON SHOAGA/GROUP Managing Editor/Dallas, Texas/NAIJA STANDARD NEWSPAPER Inc USA
AT 63-year-old, this Nigerian woman, a mother and grand mother, Ada Ngozi Otuka is in deep waters, not anywhere in Nigeria, but far away in Texas, United States of America where she had been arrested, convicted for election rigging, illegal voting and to have falsely assumed the identity of an American citizen in a bid to outsmart the system. She was caught in her web of deceit.
Ms. Otuka, though a resident of Katy, Texas, a Permanent Resident (Green Card holder) by U.S. law is not permitted to vote in any election, but by her desire to show off to her newly found friend that ‘she has arrived and could do anything she so wanted’, she craftly claimed the identity of an American citizen.
By all standards, Otuka is ineligible to vote during elections being an alien. However, prosecutors said she falsely claimed to be an American citizen during voter registration.
Investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigations, FBI and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, USCIS authorities showed she had voted in 2012, 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2024, a statement on Thursday by the Department of Justice said.
In 2025, federal officials notified Otuka that her voter registration was under scrutiny after findings showed she was not a U.S. citizen. Prosecutors said she did not respond.
She pleaded guilty to charges bordering on illegal voting by aliens and false claim to citizenship before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas and faces up to six years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000 for the two charges.
While pleading for mercy, blaming ignorance and temptation, the suspect said: “I am a mother, grand mother from Nigeria. I don’t know that Permanent Residents (Green Card Holders) are not entitled to vote in United States election. The voting card was sent into my mailbox, so I just filled it up. I am asking for mercy because I was ignorant and I saw people around doing similar thing. I won’t lie I claimed to be an American citizen in the form which I checked its box. I am having serious health issues now, and I don’t think I will survive if I go to jail. And I will be deported to Nigeria after my jail term. Where do I start my life from?”
Otuka’s sentencing has been scheduled for November 5.
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