From David Onuoja, Abuja
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has called on the Media Organization to support the Commission’s advocacy for the immediate establishment of electoral offences tribunal in the Country to checkmates the electoral offences and fraud.
Professor Mahmood made the appeal during the 1st Quarterly Consultative Meeting with the Media Executives in Abuja on Friday.
He said, due to the numerous works in the hands of INEC including the inability to have the apparatus to arrest, investigate and prosecute electoral offenders, called for the immediate establishment of electoral offences tribunal to carter for this.
He blamed the judiciary and legislature for making the Commission unable to deal with electoral offences due to the delay that lies in their hands to make the law and adjudicate respectively.
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According to him, “One of these areas of reform is the prosecution of electoral offenders. Judicial and legislative action in the last few days underscore our effort to deal with offences involving officials of the Commission assigned to carry out designated responsibilities.
“However, it also highlights the challenges we face in dealing with electoral offences. The recent successful prosecution of a Returning Officer in Akwa Ibom State is a case in point. The Commission has been diligently pursuing the case which arose from the 2019 General Election. In this particular case, it took nearly six years to achieve the successful prosecution at the trial court.
“So far, successful prosecutions have been recorded in Kebbi and Kogi States while our collaboration with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on vote-buying has yielded similar results in Lagos, Kwara and Gombe States. Yet, many cases are still pending.
“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 have 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”, he appealed.
On the forthcoming Anambra election, he said, “Party primaries will commence from 20th March 2025 and end three weeks later on 10th April 2025.
Speaking on the Area Councils in the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT) election, he said, party primaries and the nomination of candidates for the 68 constituencies will begin from 9th – 30th June 2025.
Responding, the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Alhassan Yahaya, represented by the national secretary, Mr Achike Chidi said, NUJ will continue to partner with INEC in order to make Nigerian state electoral system a success.
