October 6, 2023

With less than 5 months to the commencement of the 2023 general elections in Nigeria, and the issues of possible case of electoral fraud yet again brought to the fore, the Independent National electoral commission (INEC) has reiterated calls for the establishment of an electoral offences tribunal.

The Chairman of the Commission Mahmood Yakubu stated this on Thursday at the 6th edition of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers conference in Lagos.

Delivering his keynote address at the conference themed: 2023 Elections: Managing the Process for Credible Outcome, Mahmood who also harped on the need to remove such responsibility of arrests of electoral offenders INEC, noted that the body has no right to make arrests, but said, “in the past we’ve had successful prosecutions but I don’t know if anyone has been sent to jail for one year”.

Speaking on the issue of vote buying, he noted that INEC will continue to work on how to discourage vote buyers from getting close to polling units, which is why they came up with changing the configuration of polling units.

“There are two dimensions to the issue of illicit funds in election, one is the party and campaign finance and then we have vote buying at the polling units. It is for that reason that the commission included the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as members of the inter-agency and consultative committee on election security”.

“We believe that they are better equipped and better trained to identify the sources of illicit funds and vote buying in order to make arrests of vote buyers on election day.

“We’ll continue to do deepen our collaborations with them to ensue that our democracy remains democracy for all Nigerians, rather than plutocracy for only the rich and we’re determined to stem the tide”.

“As you are aware, election is a multi-stakeholder activity. As the Commission is doing its best to ensure a credible process, we also appeal to the media for continuous partnership,” he said

The INEC boss further noted that managing the electoral process for credible outcomes is the responsibility of all stakeholders.

“For us at INEC, the national interest comes first, we shall not pander to any whims and caprices, we pledge to discharge our duties with the highest sense of responsibility and integrity”.

He however enjoined the GOCOP to help in the sensitisation of the electorates for a free fair and credible elections in 2023.

Report by: Theresa Igata