2019- INEC seeks electoral offences commission, tribunal before poll

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has urged the National Assembly and other stakeholders to expedite action on the bill to establish the National Electoral Offences Commission/Tribunal ahead of the 2019 general elections.

The Commission however said it recorded 1,080 cases of electoral offences arising from the 2015 general elections and subsequent bye-elections.

It was stated that 124 of the cases were filed and 60 convictions secured in various courts across the country.

Chairman of the Commission, Prof Mahmood Yakubu broke the news yesterday in a memorandum he submitted to the Senate joint committee on INEC and the Judiciary.

Yakubu lamented that reports of the Electoral Reform Committee (the Uwais Report) 2008 and the Post-election Violence (Lemu Report) 2011 have been left to gather dusts on shelves.

According to him, the two reports had recommended the establishment of the Electoral Offences Commission/Tribunal to address all forms of electoral violence and impunity that have continued to undermine the stability of the nation’s electoral democracy.

The INEC Chairman said though it has powers to prosecute, INEC lacked the powers to effect the arrest of electoral offenders, a situation he said, has continued to hamper effective prosecution of offenders.

He said, “While the Uwais Report was transmitted by the executive to the National Assembly in 2010, the White Paper on recommendations of the Lemu Report directed the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to take steps towards the establishment of the Electoral Offences Tribunal.”

“Nearly a decade later, there has been no legislative action on these aspects of the recommendations of the Uwais and Lemu reports, making the present effort by the Senate and the concurrent effort by the House of Representatives a welcome development.”

“The failure to systematically and consistently enforce sanctions has encouraged impunity and the violence that often characterized electoral contest in Nigeria, thereby subverting the will of the people and undermining the nation’s electoral democracy.”