INEC Chairman, Mahmoud On 2023 Poll, How It Will Succeed

By Ayodele Oni

Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Prof Mahmoud Yakubu has highlighted measures that can guarantee a hitch free elections next year.

Yakubu, among others, called for the passage of the National Electoral Offences Commission Bill into law.

The INEC boss was addressing other issues germaine to the conduct of the 2023 elections at a Public Hearing organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters, in Abuja, on Tuesday.

He thanked the leadership of the National Assembly  for organizing the public hearing, which came four months after a similar exercise on the same Bill by the Senate Committee on INEC.

“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.”

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 Reforms for the last 13 years. The Justice Mohammed Uwais Committee on Electoral Reforms commended 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.

“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 empowers 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.”