We lack constitutional power to prosecute electoral offenders- INEC reveals

Joel Oladele, Abuja

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has revealed it lacks capacity to prosecute electoral offenders.

The Commission’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Mary Nkem disclosed this on Tuesday in her remarks at a roundtable for the media and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Abuja.

The event, with the theme: ‘Re-examining The Role Of Critical Stakeholders In Rebuilding Trust In The Electoral Processes And Institutions’, was organised by the international press council (IPC) under the European-union support to democratic governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN II) project.

Nkem noted that election is a multi stakeholders affair, noting that it is not within the constitutional right of INEC to arrest but it can only pursue the conviction of electoral offenders after they have been arrested and investigated by relevant security agencies.

She added that for the 2023 general election, three offenders have so far been convicted through the joint efforts of INEC and other stakeholders.

“Election is a multi stakeholder affair. If INEC plays its part and another stakeholder fails to play its part, there will be issues.

“When we have elections and people default, there are agencies that have the responsibility to make arrests.

“What the commission does is, after the offenders have been arrested and investigated, the agencies will send the file of those found culpable to the commission. The commission then takes action.

“It will interest you to know that for the 2023 general election, we received some case files of electoral offenders and they have been prosecuted and as we speak, about 19 case files were prepared for prosecution and filed for various jurisdiction of courts in Nigeria, three have been completed and convictions secured for the three of them.”

Also in his presentation, a Development Consultant, Mr Jide Ojo called on the media and the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to assist in bolstering peoples’ trust and confidence in INEC. 

Ojo noted that there was the need for a mutual relationship among the three institutions.

He however charged INEC on the need for house cleaning ahead of the forthcoming by-elections as well as future elections.

“There is no gainsaying that the media and Civil Society Organisations need to assist INEC to bolster people’s trust and confidence in the electoral management body,” he said.

Earlier, in his opening remarks, Executive Director, IPC, Mr Lanre Arogundade, said the event, along with other previous initiatives, were being implemented by IPC within Component 4 (Support to media) of the European Union Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria-Phase 2 (EUSDGN II) project.

Arogundade said the framework of the project, which began in 2022, was to strengthen the role of the media in promoting democratic governance through fair, accurate, ethical and inclusive coverage of electoral processes and elections in Nigeria.

He noted that the roundtable was organised because the 2023 general elections came with unexpected challenges, though they accomplished significant milestones, particularly in the use of technology for voting via BVAS.

He added that the challenges led to extensive observations both from national and international observers, which partly reflected waning public confidence and trust in the electoral process.

According to him, along this line the European Union, Election Observation Mission (EU-EOM) report on the elections made 23 recommendations for improvement.

“Additionally, IPC’s media monitoring activity of 20 print/online media and INEC social media over the past one year has also revealed some elements of negative perception by some citizens about the electoral processes and outcomes.

“While there are those too who hold that things were not as bad as portrayed,” said Arogundade.

According to him, in general, however, the observations show that election stakeholders still have much work to do individually and collectively to rebuild trust.

“Therefore, as we approach two off-cycle governorship elections in Edo and Ondo States this year 2024, and in view of the next general elections in 2027, this activity is deemed necessary.

“This is to aid the process of developing strategic interventions that can contribute towards regaining public trust, while promoting the delivery of free, fair, peaceful and credible elections in the country,” he said

 

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