The Independent National Electoral Commission in Abuja on Tuesday called on electoral offenders to have a rethink during the 2023 general election because their days were already numbered.
The commission also expressed optimism that the spate of electoral offences, irregularities and violence would be brought to a halt after the enactment of the Bill on the establishment of Electoral Offences Tribunal.
The chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, represented by the Head (Litigation and Prosecution Department), Alhassan Umar (SAN), stated this during a roundtable discussion on “Electoral offences in Nigeria: Ensuring documentation and effective prosecution”, organised by The Electoral Hub.
The Director of TEH, Ms. Princess Hamman-Obels, said that the roundtable was organised because it was important to address the issues of election malpractices and irregularities.
She said that one of the key issues around elections was electoral impunity, electoral offences and the fact that people commit offences and seem to get away with it because of their status.
“This issue of ‘big man’, you commit electoral offence and you get away with it contributes to the whole issue of voter apathy; the idea that people can do things and get away with whatever they do to truncate democracy.
“It also truncates the electoral process and impacts on the integrity and legitimacy of our elections, so it is important for us to start having these conversations towards having a holistic reform.
“This is whether it is establishing the electoral offences commission to address investigation and prosecution or to deepen more civil society engagement in ensuing that we tackle this problem of electoral offences.
“This is because without tackling it, we are going to keep having problems with our electoral process.”
Hamman-Obels added that tackling the issue of electoral offences would help in curbing violence and improve the participation of Persons With Disabilities because the fear of violence had always hindered their participation in elections.
According to Yakubu, it would no longer be business as usual because the commission was ready for them ahead of the 2023 general elections.
While informing that the commission has created a department that would be responsible for prosecution of electoral offenders, he said INEC has demonstrated seriousness in the task of prosecuting electoral offences and its effect on the electoral process.
He said, “INEC is not folding its arms, it is actually trying its best within the power that is confered on it. For instance, INEC is now trying to come up with the guidelines for prosecution of electoral offences.
In 2023, INEC is very well ready for electoral offenders because it is a power that is conferred on it, and it will continue to do its utmost to ensure that it discharges its statutorily responsibility in that regard.
“People who perpetuate electoral offenses should know that the law has been put in place to prosecute them and it will always catch them.
“So, they have to beware; the days of impunity are over. INEC is now strengthening its processes and the days that people have gone away with commission of electoral offences are over.”
A former chairman of INEC who midwifed the 2015 elections, Prof. Attahiru Jega, said that although the bar in terms of the conduct of election in Nigeria had been raised, there was need to keep on adding value to the integrity of elections in Nigeria.
Jega said that the new Electoral Law 2022 has precipitated a remarkably improved legal framework for improving the integrity of elections moving forward.
He said, “If we can have an Electoral Offences Commission that can focus in terms of addressing the issues like ICPC or EFCC that have investigative and prosecutorial powers, it should be able to address that issue of impunity, which undermines electronic integrity.”
Jega added that the roundtable came at the right time when the new legal framework went a step further than any of the Electoral Acts in the past.
The former INEC chairman said that historically, electoral offenses in the country could be categorized into three broad categories: pre-elections offences, election day offenses and post-election day offenses.
He said, “There are so many categories of these offenses, but I think what is peculiar in Nigeria, compared with other countries is what aggregates the impunity with which these offences are committed.
“Candidates are culprits, political parties are culprits, election observers, and even the security agencies are culprits in the way in which these offenses are perpetrated.
“I think that the challenge is how to deal with these impunity, it is one thing to have a good legal framework and on the other hand ensuring that the good legal framework is complied with.
“However, those who do not comply with it are to be appropriately sanctioned.’’
Jega said that the 2022 Electoral Act has done a commendable job of itemizing at least 62 specific offenses, specific penalties, sometimes with option of fine and some serious ones without option of fine.
He however said that the challenge now was how these could be implemented.
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