Romanus Okoye
Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Femi Falana has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to handle the prosecution of electoral offenders arrested while trying to disrupt election process on Saturday.
Mr. Falana alleged that in the past, the prosecution was usually taken over by State Attorneys-General who in turn file nolle prosequi for termination of the cases due to pressure from the ruling party.
The Senior Advocate said that if the offenders were not properly prosecuted, “…the detained armed thugs who engaged in the cold murder of unarmed voters, ballot snatching, burning of ballot papers etc during the election will soon be freed and allowed to continue to sabotage the inchoate democratic process in the country.”
He said that Section 150 of the Electoral Act, 2010 vested INEC with powers to prosecute any person who violates the provisions of the Act.
“Like other prosecutorial agencies of the Federal Government the INEC should request the Inspector-General of Police to deploy some trained police investigators to the Legal Department for the purpose of coordinating the investigation of the cases.