Magnus Eze, Enugu, Fred Itua, Abuja, Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan, Layi Olanrewaju, Ilorin, Tony John,  Port Harcourt

Discordant tune has greeted the move by the Senate to establish the Electoral Offences Commission to mete out stiffer penalties for electoral offences.

It proposes 20 years jail term for destroyers of ballot boxes, 15 years for snatchers of ballot boxes and 20 years for corrupt judicial officers.

According to the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, the move to establish the Commission was in line with the legislative agenda of the Ninth National Assembly at sanitising Nigeria’s electoral process.

“It is in pursuit of our legislative agenda at ensuring that we sanitise the electoral environment in the right direction.”

Sponsor of the Electoral Offences Commission Bill, Senator Abubakar Shaib Kyari (APC – Borno North), in his lead debate, expressed concern that electoral crimes lead to low quality, corrupt and violent political leadership.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State have commended the move.

Publicity secretary of PDP in the state, Akeem Olatunji and his counterpart in APC, Abdul-Azeez Olatunde also expressed reservations on the proposed laws in separate interviews with Daily Sun in Ibadan.

According to Olatunji, “the proposal is a welcome development and the essence of having such legislation is to create awareness towards the inherent danger in electoral malpractices across the country.

“But apart from the face value of the proposal, the challenges the nation is facing on election issue has to do with lack of political will to implement what the existing law of the federation stipulated as well as provision of the Constitution, regarding electoral malpractices and violence during and after elections.”

To Olatunde, “it’s a sign that democracy is growing in Nigeria. And our democracy will continue to grow…”

•It’s total waste of time –Ex-NBA chair

Former chairman, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ibadan branch, Mr. Kazeem Gbadamosi, said Section 129(4) of the Electoral Act already prescribes two years jail term on conviction for people that either destroy or snatch ballot boxes.

“It has always been a criminal offence to snatch or destroy ballot boxes. But how many people have been arrested and punished for the offence, even if it is for one week, one month or one year?

“The provision of the Electoral Act that criminalises snatching or destroying ballot boxes has not told us who should arrest the snatchers and the destroyers. Is it INEC that could not prevent the snatching or destruction of the ballot boxes that will arrest and prosecute them?   Are the police the body to arrest them?

“So, what the National Assembly is doing is not the solution. How many people have been punished under Section 129 of the Electoral Act? Take the statistics, you will probably not find any. The proposed law will not achieve any purpose. It is a pure waste of time.”

•It may bring sanity if –Bisi Atolagbe

A lawyer,  Bisi Atolagbe- Bisi Atolagbe said it is a welcome development.

“We need to start from somewhere which is what they have done. But the most unfortunate thing about this jail term is likely to bedeviled with lots of intrigues that will be introduced by our politicians and other stakeholders such as the security agencies and our judicial officers.

“First is the issue of party affiliation of the perpetrators of any of the above acts. If a person works for a party in power it might go score free but if it were to be an opposition group surely maximum jail terms await such person. Also issue of ethnicity will crept in by the time you will know it, Nigerians will start crying that one tribe is being tried leaving some others.  Aside this will our political leaders have the courage to implement this policy. If the executive has the will what of those that will enforce the law and the judiciary that will ensure jail terms are given to those who merited it not the other way round.”

 •Ogwuche, Njigwum fault proposal

A Port Harcourt-based lawyer, Festus Ogwuche, said  the way out of the plethora of corruption and electoral problems was the adoption of recommendations contained  in the Justice Uwais Commission’s report.

“They are talking about corrupt judicial officers, what about the political elite that corrupt the judges? They did not take care of that in their proposal. I think the whole thing is childish?”

Another lawyer, Christian Njigwum, said NASS could not propose a punishment for the officers without recommendation(s) by NJC.

Njigwum  maintained that the proposed corruption and electoral punishments could instil sanity in the polity because there are relevant portions in the Electoral Act that address issues bordering on election.

•Nigeria needs institutional reforms

Two Abuja-based lawyers, Ugochukwu Ezekiel and Valentine Abiaesse hailed the move.

Ezekiel also added that the upper legislative chamber should be applauded for taking such proactive step.

However, he noted that the continuous escalation of electoral fraud in Nigeria was as a result of inadequate laws or punishment for offenders but rather lack of executive will to enforce the laws.

“Those who commit or sponsor the culprits are either important members of the executive or legislative arms of government or major stakeholders in the party in power. The number of years that electoral fraud attracts, if a person is convicted, may look cosmetically attractive but the germane issue is in its application.

“The question is – how many people arrested for hijack of electoral materials in the just concluded 2019 elections were prosecuted or still undergoing prosecution? Your guess is as good as mine.

Nigeria must move away from being paper tigers to actually commence cogent steps towards enforcement of our laws.

For Abiaesse, what Nigeria needed was strengthening of the institutions and not churning out of new laws. He said the proposed punishment for electoral offences can only work when the relevant institutions were completely in tune with the emerging vision of a greater state and spirit of the law.

Chairman of the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), Emeka Umeagbalasi said what was mostly required was the political will and institutional reforms.

He pointed out that institutional reforms include appointing the right people at helm of affairs such as INEC and judicial offices, stating that failure to do so would encourage state actor atrocities which are hardly checkmated because they are untouchables.