A Policy Experts and Associate Professor of Political History at Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile Ife, Dr Adetunji Ogunyemi has called on the National Assembly to resuscitate Electoral Offences Commission bill to prevent thuggery, coercion and vote suppression within electoral system.
Ogunyemi made the call while speaking with journalists on Wednesday at the sideline of the High-Level Symposium on Electoral Security in Abuja.
The symposium themed: Assessing the electoral security management towards legal reforms was organised by Kimpact Development Initiative(KDI) with support from USAID.
Ogunyemi said: “The time has come now for the current Senate to adopt that bill, because the bill is excellent. It’s good to prevent all manners of thuggery, coercion and vote suppression within the system.
“The truth of the matter is that Nigeria has a huge array of electoral crises, especially the one that is brought on by people who deliberately flout the laws of the land in respect of elections, and create apprehension within the system such that many Nigerians were not able to exercise their franchise freely in the last election”.
“Recall that in 2019, the distinguished Senator Abubakar Kyari proposed the Bill. A Bill which is titled Electoral Offences Commission that are supported by the Senator Ovie Omo Agege and that means such to apprehend all manners of infractions of the Electoral Act particularly infractions in respect of section 221, 225 and 227 of the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as altered, in respect of people constituting organizations to levy force or levy to violence or coerce people to refrain from voting for or to vote directly for some other persons in such a way that violence could be apprehended.”
“That electoral offences bill was to prevent this from happening, including bribery, including the perversion of electoral process, all these were to be apprehended, and they are contained in clauses 12 and 17 of that bill
“So, if they adopt it, and the house concurred to it, then, it may become the law of the federation.”
He reiterated that police have no authority to prosecute electoral offences adding that It’s not in the electoral act and it is INEC that has the authority to prosecute.
“The police may help in making some arrests. But when it comes to actual prosecution, I tell you the law the Electoral Acts in Nigeria as amended in 2022, put the responsibility squarely within the purview of INEC but INEC we know of course is over-saddled with election matters and has no technical capacity, including enough personnel to apprehend all manners of infractions of the law.
“We even have situation where NBA offered ‘pro bono publico’ to help INEC to support INEC to do prosecution of some apprehended criminals within the system.”
“So one would rather say that what we need is this new law with respect to electoral offenses to create a special commission and a tribunal for that commission to punish offenders.” He said.
Meanwhile, the Team Lead of KDI, Bukola Idowu, said one of the key components of the electoral process that can affect the integrity of any election is election security.
He explained that KDI believes that election security is the foundation for citizens’ participation, and participation shows citizens’ confidence in the electoral process.
“With this background in mind, today’s symposium has brought together experts and practitioners from various fields and backgrounds to share their insights and experiences on enhancing the security of our elections, preventing and deterring electoral offences, and promoting public trust and confidence in our democracy.”
“We hope this symposium will stimulate fruitful discussions and generate constructive recommendations for reintroducing an independent and effective Election Offence Commission, which will serve as a watchdog and a deterrent against any attempts to undermine our electoral system.”
. TheWitness
