From Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja

Immediate past Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, has called for the constitution of an inter-agency team whose sole responsibility is to arrest election offenders.

Jega made the call while participating in EUSDGN project’s inaugural/dissemination seminar  component one (Support to INEC) – European Union Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria, Phase II Programme in Abuja.

The event witnessed a panel discussion on ‘Offences and Penalties in the Nigerian Electoral Process,’ a guidance document for stakeholders by DAI-EUSDGN.

Jega commended the production of the booklet, saying that what needed to be done was to give it a wider circulation.

Jega who stated that awareness of the offences and penalties may serve as a deterrent, however said he was of the opinion that the best thing was to look at ways and means of ensuring that there is successful prosecution where offences are committed and pointed out.

He added that the major problem with electoral offences in the country was that they were committed with impunity, adding that the impunity, to a large extent, was as a result of people knowing that they can do it and get away with it.

Jega further said the limitations of INEC with regards to prosecution has been noted, saying that the whole advocacy for the establishment of an election offences commission was to see how the challenge can be addressed.

Jega also said that leading to the 2023 elections, even though it was a welcome development that both houses of the legislature have passed the bill and are harmonizing it, it would be too optimistic to think that it would be signed into law and come into effect before the 2023 elections.

Jega added that while it is a welcome development, the challenge was, “what can we do to ensure significant prosecution of electoral offences committed during this election season in spite the limitations of INEC, and of course, the police?”

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According to Jega, “I think the limitations of INEC are not just having a small legal unit that is very, very busy with other matters, but also the challenge of not being able to investigate. You have to rely on the police.

“In fact, the whole reason why the law makes INEC to be in charge of prosecution of electoral offenders is because of the recommendation that the police has failed in the past in that regard.

“I think it is a serious dilemma, but it is possible for INEC to enter into some serious discussion with the police to develop a framework where at least, let us make a very, very clear point during this election season that as many as is possible, electoral offences will actually be prosecuted.

“And in particular, I think there are so many, so maybe the first step is to prioritise. Which are those offences that will have very serious impact – all of them affect the integrity of the elections and undermine that, but which ones are so fundamental that we just focus on that in this election season and make sure that there are actual cases of apprehension and successful prosecution.

“Use of money, for example, which has become prevalent, politicians recognising that use of technology is limiting their traditional ways of fraudulent, undermining the integrity of the elections, are now trying to buy the voters directly so that the voters themselves will be the ones who will go and cast the vote for them, having sold their conscience clearly. Maybe some of those specific offences can be targeted.

“Particularly, there are good positive signals that since 2019, INEC has been working together, partnering with both the EFCC and ICPC on this issue of apprehension of those who on election day, they buy vote.

“So, maybe if that collaboration can be strengthened, bringing the police into it just like we have the inter-agency consultative committee on election security, maybe we should bring those other agencies, particularly on the issue of apprehension of vote-buying – Police, EFCC, ICPC so that there can be successful apprehension and immediate prosecution.

“I think for me, the more successful prosecutions we have and possibly of high profile offenders, the more we can gain traction in terms of minimising this issue of impunity in the perpetuation of election offences,” Jega said.

Also speaking, the Team Leader, DAI-EUSDGN, Rudolph Elbling, said unfortunately, a lot of electoral offences are committed all over the world, but in Nigeria, they are quite intimidating.

“You see already that a lot of breaches of the Electoral Act are committed. You see that INEC offices are being attacked; you see that for example, some political candidates are attacked; there are breaches of all sorts of different offences,” Elbing said.