Almost two years after the conduct of the 2023 general election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has revealed that several electoral offences cases are still pending before courts.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu stated this on Friday in Abuja at the first regular quarterly consultative meeting with the media.
He said it was therefore imperative to renew the call for the creation of the Electoral Offences Tribunal that has a specific jurisdiction and limited timeframe for the speedy dispensation of cases.
The chairman stressed that judicial and legislative action in the last few days underscore the commission’s effort to deal with offences involving officials of the Commission assigned to carry out designated responsibilities.
Yakubu emphasised that the recent successful prosecution of a Returning Officer in Akwa Ibom State was a case in point.
He explained that the commission had been diligently pursuing the case which arose from the 2019 general election.
Yakubu pointed out that this particular case took nearly six years to achieve the successful prosecution at the trial court.
He noted that through the commission’s collaboration with the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), cases involving 774 alleged offenders from the 2023 general election are being prosecuted.
The chairman added that so far, successful prosecutions have been recorded in Kebbi and Kogi States while INEC’s collaboration with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on vote-buying has yielded similar results in Lagos, Kwara and Gombe States.
Yakubu stated: “A major obstacle to the speedy dispensation of justice in this regard is that electoral offences are not time-bound as is the case with post-election offences through the tribunals.
“Furthermore, they are solely prosecuted by the Magistrate and State High Courts in the jurisdiction where the alleged offences are committed.
“No priority attention is given to such cases as the courts deal with a variety of other cases. Consequently, electoral offences are carried over from one General Election to another which may sometimes affect the diligent prosecution of the cases.
“It is therefore imperative to renew our call for the creation of the Electoral Offences Tribunal that has a specific jurisdiction and limited timeframe for the speedy dispensation of cases. I urge the media to join in this patriotic advocacy for the good of our electoral democracy.”