From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) have called for the amendment of the electoral act to provide stiffer penalties against violators of election rules.
Speaking at a parley tagged “Strengthening Accountability Networks Among Civil Societies in Nigeria”, on Tuesday in Abuja, Executive Director, CISLAC and Transparency International, Nigeria, Auwal Rafsanjani expressed concern about the overbearing influence of money in politics as exemplified in some recently conducted election.
He said if the undue influence of money in politics is not checked the will of the people could subverted.
“The laws are in place and we should regulate how money enters politics. We seem to have so much money in politics that seems to erode power of our institutions.
“It is sad that the laws are outrightly ignored because some people think they are above the law. But we cannot flourish as a democracy if rule of law are ignored and there is no set of guidelines to regulate how we behave.
“In the last general election, over one quarter of the votes came to the ballot with offer to sell their votes to the highest bidder. That was why we question the rationale of the Tradermoni. As we can see, the programme disappeared after the election”.
On his part, National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, expressed dismay that the sanctions provided in the constitution for violators of directives relating to party finances and election expenses as relatively mild, noting that it accounted for the disdain exhibited by parties and candidates in complying with the law.
He called for the inclusion of refusal of political parties to render account of their finances as one of the conditions for de-registration of political parties.
Okoye, added that the sanctions must also include an increase in the fines and prison term for the leaders of defaulting parties.
“As a Commission we support the creation of an Electoral Offences Commission and Tribunal that will have exclusive mandate and jurisdiction to investigate, arrest and prosecute electoral offenders.
“We believe that the lack of robust investigation and prosecution of offenders accounts for the serial infraction of the provisions of the Constitution”, he said.