INEC Chairman Seeks Passage Of Electoral Bill Into Law

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Professor Mahmood Yakubu has  unequivocally called for the passage of the National Electoral Offences Commission Bill into law reports Prime Business Africa.

Yakubu made this assertion while also addressing other issues germane to the conduct of the 2023 at the Public Hearing organised by the he House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters, Hearing Room 236 (New Building, House of Representatives) National Assembly, Abuja, on Tuesday 23rd August 2022.

Yakubu thanked the Chairman and Honourable Member of the House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters in particular and the leadership of the National Assembly in general for organising the public hearing which came four months after a similar public hearing on the same Bill by the Senate Committee on INEC held on 28th April 2022.

“This is the closest the nation has come to the passage of the long overdue National Electoral Offences Commission Bill into law.

“I hope in the next few months, the National Assembly will pass the Bill so that it will not suffer the fate of previous efforts which were inchoate at the end of the lifespan of the Assembly,” Mahmood said.

The INEC boss further stressed that the Bill for an Act to establish the National Electoral Offences  Commission is a critical legislation.

“It has been part of all national conversations on constitutional and Electoral Reform for the last 13 years. The Justice Mohammed Uwais Committee on Electoral Reforms recommended it in 2009.

“It is clear that the reform of our electoral process cannot be complete without effective sanctions on violators of our laws. At present, INEC is saddled with the responsibility of prosecuting electoral offenders under the Electoral Act. This has been very challenging for the Commission. For instance, since the 2015 General Election, 125 cases of electoral offences were filled in various Courts out of which 60 convictions have secured so far, including the most recent one in Akwa Ibom State.”

Yakubu also called for the prosecution of offenders, not just ballot box snatches, falsified of election results and vote buyers at polling units but most importantly, their sponsors.

“We look forward to the day when highly placed sponsors of thuggery, including high-profile figures that seek to benefit from these violations, are arrested and prosecuted. We believe the work of the proposed Commission will help in this regard.

There are constraints to these aspirations the INEC Chairman noted.

“We have studied 46 Clauses of the Bill under consideration and made 16 comments. I would like to touch on two Clauses and make a general observation while submitting our detailed, comments to the Committee. It is propels that Electoral Offences Tribunal be established with exclusive jurisdiction to try Electoral offenders.

“The second is Clause 44 which empower the Attorney-General of the Federation to make rules or regulations for the Commission.

“Thirdly, because work on the Bill started before the passage of the current Electoral Act into law, all references to the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), for example Clause 39 (1), should be replaced with relevant provisions  of Electoral Act 2022.