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Yakubu added that the 60 convictions were from more than 125 cases brought by the commission against election offenders since 2015.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has secured the conviction of 60 electoral offenders, caught during the 2015 general elections.
The INEC national chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, confirmed the convictions, adding that the commission was overworked by its current obligations.
Yakubu added that the 60 convictions were from more than 125 cases brought by the commission against election offenders since 2015.
The INEC chairman spoke during a one-day public hearing on a bill for an act to establish the electoral offences commission which will lessen the workload at INEC.
Yakubu added that there should also be an Electoral Offences Tribunal charged with prosecuting offenders because the country’s courts are overworked.
According to him, the Senate Committee on INEC held a similar public hearing on the same bill on April 28, 2022, about four months ago.
According to him, the Commission has the burdensome duty of prosecuting electoral criminals in accordance with the Electoral Act, which has proven to be a very difficult assignment for the Commission.
He said, “For instance, since the 2015 general election, 125 cases of electoral offences were filed in various Courts out of which 60 convictions have been secured so far, including the most recent one in Akwa Ibom State.
“The commission would like to see more successful prosecution of offenders, not just ballot box snatchers, falsifiers 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.
“However, much as the Commission would like to see more successful prosecution of offenders, our effort is hampered by obvious constraints.
“INEC is basically an electoral commission with extensive responsibilities which include the registration and regulation of political parties, the monitoring of party and campaign finance, their primaries, congresses, meetings and conventions; nationwide Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) and the maintenance of the national register of voters; creation of polling units; delimitation of electoral constituencies; voter education and publicity; management of electoral logistics; recruitment, training and deployment of election duty officials.”
