From Fred Itua, Abuja
The Electoral Offences Commission Establishment Bill aimed at prosecuting persons involved in destruction of ballot boxes or papers during election was passed into law, yesterday, almost two years after it was sponsored on the floor of the Senate.
It prescribed jail term of 20 years imprisonment or a fine of at least N40 million.
According to the Bill, “no candidate or agent of his or any other person shall grab, loot, damage or destroy in any manner, ballot boxes or ballot papers or any other electoral document or material, before, during and after an election, or take or attempt to take or cause to be taken ballot boxes or ballot papers or any other electoral document or material before, during and after an election without the permission of election official in charge of the election at a polling station.”
The Bill tagged: An Act to Establish the National Electoral Offences Commission and for Other Related Matters 2019 is sponsored by Abubakar Kyari, from Borno State.
The proposed law is also recommending a term of 15 years for anyone found guilty of destroying, snatching or opening a ballot box.
If the proposal scales through, any person who votes when he is not entitled to vote would be liable to an imprisonment of 15 years. This applies to anyone who puts into any ballot box approved by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) or a State Electoral Commission anything other than the ballot paper which he or she is authorised to do.
In the proposed legislation, “a person shall also be jailed for 15 years if without due authority, takes out of a polling station any electoral document or he is found in possession of any electoral document outside a polling station.”
The Bill also seeks an imprisonment of 20 years without an option of a fine for a judicial officer or officer of a court or tribunal found guilty of corruptly perventing electoral justice, before, during and after election and if he directly or indirectly receives or accepts for himself or for any other person or on behalf of other persons, any money, gift, loan, property, valuable consideration, office, place, employment or appointment, or promise of personal enrichment for the purpose of giving, rendering, procuring or directing a Judicial decision in favour of or against a particular person or party in an election petition or any matter relating to an election conducted pursuit to the provision of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The Bill also states that “all national officers of any associations or political party, as the case may, that contravenes the provision of Clauses 222, 225(1), (2), (3) and (4) and 227 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable, on conviction to imprisonment for a term of at least five (5)years or to a fine of at least N10 Million Naira (N10,000,000), or both.”
The Bill has also pegged 15 years imprisonment for any person “acting for himself or on behalf of any organisation or political party or candidates or his agent or other person, shall, with an intention of prejudicibg the result of any election, damage or defame, in any manner, the character of any candidate in an election or his family member by making, saying, printing, publishing, distributing, posting up, airing, or televising, or cause to be made, said, printed, published, distributed, posted up, aired or televised, before or during any election, any matter in the print or electronic media including radio, television, the internet, online or social media, which he knows or believes to be false in relation to the personal character or conduct of the candidate or his family member or by making false accusation on ant matter in a manner likely to make others believe such matter to be true.”
“If the Bill scales through and a new Commission is established, it will be made compulsory for candidates at an election to submit a statement of expenses to the body at most six months after the election and the statement shall be in form to be prescribed by the Commission from time to time.
According to the sponsors of the Bill, when the National Electoral Offences Commission is established, “it shall have the power to appoint and maintain, as its officers, employers, investigators, prosecutors, experts and other persons with qualifications, experience and skills in fields that are relevant to the Commission’s functions, to perform such duties as may be necessary from time to time.”