Ahead of the 2023 general elections, Nicholas Kalu in Abuja reports that the clamour for the creation of an Electoral Offences Commission is once again on the rise as Nigerians prepare to elect new leaders.
The clamour for a special body to investigate and prosecute electoral offenses in Nigeria has continued to gain momentum over the years. The growing trend of electoral offences, which has plagued the country’s elections for so long, has triggered calls from various quarters for the establishment of an Electoral Offences Commission to effectively tackle electoral malpractices and bring perpetrators to book. Proponents of such a specialized commission believe that this will reduce the burden on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and allow it to conduct elections and deal with other related issues.
Besides clogging the law courts with electoral matters, which are often time bound and demand urgent attention to dispose of, the body saddled with the responsibility of prosecuting offenders more often than not lacks the time and resources to pursue a diligent litigation in a manner that would discourage indulgence in such activities. The establishment of an Electoral Offences Commission and Electoral Offences Tribunal form part of the recommendation of the Justice Uwais Committee on Electoral Reform, set up by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua to recommend way of reforming the electoral process in the country following the general outcry that greeted the 2007 general elections, which were widely characterized by malpractices.
In 2012, the then Chairman of INEC, Prof Attahiru Jega was quoted as saying that the commission cannot successfully prosecute electoral offenders because it lacks adequate funds and manpower. Jega said that in the course of voter registration and general elections across Nigeria in 2011, about 870, 000 electoral offenders were apprehended, adding that out of the number only 200, representing 0.02 per cent were successfully prosecuted.
He said the issue of prosecuting offenders has been “a big problem” because of paucity of funds and manpower, adding that if INEC was saddled with the responsibility of prosecuting electoral offenders, its major mandate would suffer because the quantum of offenders would be too much for the commission. He challenged the government to work on the “Uwais panel report, on electoral reform, that recommended that a separate body should be set up to handle electoral offences”.
However, while speaking at a round-table on electoral offenses, INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu expressed optimism that the spate of electoral offences, irregularities and violence would be brought in check after the enactment of the Bill on the establishment of Electoral Offences Tribunal, ahead of the 2023 general elections. Yakubu hinted that the commission has created a department that would be responsible for prosecution of electoral offenders in its bid to tackle the malaise.He said, “INEC is not folding its arms, it is actually trying its best within the power that is conferred 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 statutory 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.”
However, as agitation for the commission and tribunal grew, the lawmakers in Nigeria’s House of Representatives are considering a bill to establish the commission. Many have agreed that the commission was needed at this time of our electoral process. Five bills on the subject matter have already been consolidated by the House. Ironically, one of the bills sponsored by Rep. John Dyegh was passed by the 8th Assembly, but was not assented to by the President. The President was said to have returned the bill to the National Assembly with a request that the provisions be built into the Electoral Act which was eventually not signed into law.
In accordance with the House rules, the bill was reintroduced and referred directly to the Committee of the Whole for reconsideration. But while it was pending, four other bills were consolidated and ready for second reading. Dyegh stopped the process when he observed that his bill with similar title was before the House and yet not consolidated with the others. He informed that the bill which was passed in the 8th Assembly was being ignored, but was not certain at what stage the bill was. The Speaker ordered an investigation.
When the House reconvened again, Dyegh’s bill was consolidated with the others and considered for second reading. The proposed legislation, titled “Bill for an Act to Establish National Electoral Offences Commission and the Electoral Offences Tribunal to Provide for the Legal Framework for Investigation and Prosecution of Electoral Offences for the general Improvement of the Electoral Process in Nigeria; and for Related Matters (HBs.753, 1589, 695, 1372 and 1472),” was sponsored by Hon. Aishatu J. Dukku, Hon. Francis Charles Uduyok, Hon. Kingsley Chinda and Hon. John Dyegh.
Leading the debate on its general principles, one of the sponsors and Chairman Committee on Electoral Matters, Dukku, said electoral crimes lead to low quality, corrupt and violent political leadership and helps election riggers and offenders take control of the government against the democratic will of the electorate. According to her, decisive deterrent through efficient criminal prosecution is the most effective strategy for defeating electoral offenders, as INEC clearly does not have the needed human capacity to prosecute electoral offences committed across Nigeria’s 119,973 polling units, 8809 wards, 360 federal constituencies, 109 senatorial districts and 774 local government areas.
Dukku said, “By these statistics, it is unrealistic to expect INEC to conduct free, fair and credible elections, and simultaneously prosecute offences arising from the same elections. Indeed, INEC itself has admitted that it lacks the wherewithal to cleanse the system. Its failure to prosecute even one per cent of the 870,000 alleged electoral offences in the 2011 elections is an affirmation of the necessity of a paradigm shift on how we deal with electoral offences.
“And the inability to prosecute electoral offenders has helped to sustain a reign of systemic election rigging, election violence which deters the participation of especially the women from participating in elections and it also leads to voter registration manipulation, vote buying, disinformation, declaration of false election results, destruction or invalidation of valid ballots, tampering with election systems and voter impersonation. These fuel the patriotic call for INEC to be divested of that statutory duty. It is widely agreed that this duty is an undue burden on INEC. It distracts INEC from its core constitutional mandate of conducting a free and fair election.”
Contributing in support, the Chief Whip, Hon. Tahir Monguno said the Bill is very relevant and germane to the dream or quest for Nigeria to attain a truly democratic status in the comity of nations, especially against the backdrop of the clamour to deliver an election that is transparent, fair and accountable to the yearnings and aspirations of the people of this country.
“And as a legislature that is responsive and responsible for the yearnings and aspirations of the people that gave us the sacred mandate to represent them, it behooves us as per Section 4 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), that gave us the power to make laws for the peace, order and good governance of the country, to enact the Electoral Act to make it ‘octotonous’, that means to make it (to be) in consonance with the yearnings and aspirations of the people.
“You cannot give what you don’t have. So, against this backdrop, there is the need for us to enact or reform our electoral system through the Electoral Act and give Nigerians a system that is going to throw up leaders that are accountable and responsive to the yearnings and aspirations of the people, and give elections that are truly credible and transparent to the Nigerian public. It was against this backdrop that this bill was initiated to capture the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians,” Monguno added
Before the debate on the general principles of the bill by the House, Femi Falana, SAN, had written the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep Femi Gbajabiamila, requesting for what he regarded as information on the Electoral Offenses Commission Bill. His letter had come on the heels of allegations of vote trading which allegedly characterized Ekiti governorship elections. The constitutional lawyer accused the House of ignoring the Electoral Offenses Commission Bill passed by the senate owing to reasons he said was “best known to the House of Representatives”.
In his letter, Falana said “As you are no doubt aware, the Independent National Electoral Commission was empowered to prosecute electoral offenders under section 150 of the repealed Electoral Act 2010 as amended. But the INEC was unable to discharge the statutory duty due to alleged lack of wherewithal. Hence, its failure to prosecute even one per cent of the 870,000, 900,000 and 1,100,000 million electoral offenders arrested during the 2011, 2015 and 2019 general elections respectively. In order to stop the increasing wave of electoral impunity the Senate passed the Electoral Offences Commission Bill on July 14, 2021 and forwarded the same to the House of Representatives. But the Bill has been ignored due to reasons best known to the members of the House of Representatives under your watch. Hence, section 145 of the Electoral Act 2022 has vested the Independent National Electoral Commission with the statutory duty to prosecute electoral offenders in the Federal Capital Territory and the 36 States of the Federation.
“Even though sections 114-121 of the Electoral Act have made adequate provisions for electoral offences the Independent National Electoral Commission does not have the capacity to arrest, investigate and prosecute electoral offenders. In the atmosphere of official impunity the leading members of the political class have engaged themselves in the dollarisation of the electoral process, vote buying, intimidation of political opponents, killing and thuggery, ballot snatching e.t.c
“In view of the foregoing, we are compelled to request the Honourable Speaker to furnish us with information on the Electoral Offences Commission Bill passed by the Senate and forwarded to the House of Representatives since July last year.” Spokesman of the House, Hon Benjamin Kalu, said achievieving the electoral offences commission and the tribunal is a step in the right direction by the Parliament. He said, “I say so because there has been the yearning for us to reduce the amount of litigation in the corridors of the courts of the judiciary. The times they are supposed to use to run other issues of the nation, they spend handling issues that ordinarily could have been handled by this tribunal and commission.
Our latest engagement with INEC was that their hands were filled with mandates. A lot of mandates that may affect their efficiency if not broken into pieces like having commission take care of such responsibilities. And also a tribunal to take care of responsibilities especially when they (INEC) are not well equipped to be able to investigate offenses like Nigerians would expect them to do. Nigerians expect them to investigate offenses. They do not have the capacity to do that. And the numerous litigations normally distract them from their jobs.
“So if there is a special tribunal and commission that would be able to pick up the offenders immediately, investigate them immediately and try them as soon as possible, there are things it is going to do for our electoral space. One of the things is that there would be no space for the offenders. The longer it stays in court the more chances they have to get out of the sword of justice. So if you commit the offense, there is a tribunal to try you immediately. It would deter a lot of criminals from coming into the space, whenever elections are conducted. So I commend the Parliament and also the sponsors of the motion. It is a good thing for Nigeria that this Parliament is really interested in electoral reform. So beyond the Electoral Act, this is one of the things that would help the credibility of the election and security during the election and justice as well to be quickly gotten in this era of election and going forward.”
With the 2023 elections around the corner, expectations are high that the processes to get the law in place are expedited to ensure the commission and tribunal is in place to ensure a more credible outcome.
END
Be the first to comment