…seeks NASS’ passage of electoral offences commission bill
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has said it recorded only 60 convictions of electoral offences out of 125 cases filed in various courts across the country.
INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, who disclosed this at a Public Hearing on the Bill for an Act to establish the National Electoral Offences Commission, organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters, said the agency wishes to secure more convictions but is currently constraint.
Yakubu noted that as part of its extensive responsibilities, INEC, is required to prosecute electoral offenders, but its incapacity to arrest offenders or conduct investigation leading to successful prosecution of high-profile offenders, inspired efforts to unbundle the commission and assign some of its responsibilities to other agencies.
He therefore called on the National Assembly to pass the Bill for an Act to establish the National Electoral Offences Commission to enhance the timely arrest and prosecution of electoral offenders.
The bill, which is part of efforts to sanitise Nigeria’s electoral process, was presented for public hearing at the Senate Committee on INEC on 28th April 2022, and has been part of all national conversations on constitutional and electoral reforms for the last 13 years.
According to the INEC chairman, the Justice Mohammed Uwais Committee on electoral reforms recommended it in 2009, echoed by the Sheikh Ahmed Lemu Committee following the post-election violence of 2011 and, most recently, by the Senator Ken Nnamani Committee on Constitutional and Electoral Reform in 2017.
“It is clear that the reform of our electoral process cannot be complete without effective sanctions on violators of our laws. At present, INEC is saddled with the responsibility of prosecuting electoral offenders under the Electoral Act.
“This has been very challenging for the Commission. For instance, since the 2015 General Election, 125 cases of electoral offences were filed in various Courts out of which 60 convictions have been secured so far, including the most recent one in Akwa Ibom State.
“The Commission would like to see more successful prosecution of offenders, not just ballot box snatchers, falsifiers of election results and vote buyers at polling units but most importantly, their sponsors.
“We look forward to the day when highly placed sponsors of thuggery, including high-profile figures that seek to benefit from these violations, are arrested and prosecuted. We believe the work of the proposed Commission will help in this regard,” he said.
According to him, the commission has studied the 46 clauses of the bill under consideration and made 16 comments.
“I would like to touch on two Clauses and make a general observation while submitting our detailed comments to the Committee. First is Clause 33 (1) of the Bill which confers jurisdiction on Federal, State and FCT High Courts to try offenders under the Bill. However, these Courts are already over-burdened. It is proposed that Electoral Offences Tribunal be established with exclusive jurisdiction to try electoral offenders. The second is Clause 44 which empowers the Attorney-General of the Federation to make rules or regulations for the Commission.
“Conferring additional power to any other body may cause friction or conflict with the Commission which should be independent in the discharge of its functions even if doing so requires consequential amendment to other laws of the Federation to empower the Commission and guarantee its independence.
“In any case, Clause 1(2)[c] of the Bill grants the Commission power to make its own rules and regulations. Thirdly, because work on the Bill started before the passage of the current Electoral Act into law, all references to the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), for example Clause 39(1), should be replaced with relevant provisions of Electoral Act 2022,” he said.