INEC has disappointed on prosecuting electoral offenders – Jega

Written by The Punch Thursday, 09 February 2012

Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, on Wednesday admitted that the commission had not done enough to prosecute electoral offenders after the April 2011 general elections.

Jega spoke at a stakeholders’ consultative forum at the Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists as part of preparations for the February 11 election.

He blamed the police for failing to prosecute a senator accused of engaging in electoral malpractices in the state during the April election.

“It is true that with regard to the prosecution of electoral offenders, INEC has disappointed many Nigerians. I promised Nigerians that we will prosecute electoral offenders. I meant it. The commission meant it and we have done our best,” he said.

Jega was reacting to doubts raised by stakeholders that INEC had not been consistent and fair to the state in the past elections.

The stakeholders had raised concerns over security, neutrality of the commission’s officials and possible intimidation of voters. They doubted the ability of INEC to fulfill its promise of conducting a free, credible and peaceful election on Saturday.

The former state Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Stanley Damabide, said INEC had not justified its position on electoral offenders, citing failure of the commission to prosecute a serving senator alleged to have committed electoral fraud in the last election.

Damabide said despite offering the services of the state NBA to INEC, the commission was not forthcoming in handling the case of the senator, adding that the way the senator’s matter was treated had sent wrong signals to members of the public.

But Jega said the security agencies should be blamed for failing to prosecute the senator despite the alarm raised by INEC.

He said the commission withheld the certificate of return of the senator, but that he (senator) went to court to obtain an order compelling INEC to release it (certificate).

He said INEC lacked the capacity to prosecute all electoral offenders, noting that on voter registration alone, the commission recorded over 870,000 multiple registrants.

Out of this number, Jega said the commission was only able to successfully prosecute 200 offenders. He added that the only way to deal with electoral fraud was to adopt the recommendations of Muhammed Uwais’ commission on electoral prosecution.

He said, “The best way of dealing with electoral offenders is to go back to the recommendations of the Justice Uwais electoral reform committee which is to establish an election offences tribunal whose business it is to prosecute electoral offenders.

“This is something we intend to engage the National Assembly in. I have written two letters since the April elections to the leadership of the National Assembly asking them to revisit that aspect of recommendations of Justice Uwais.

“Let us have a tribunal whose full responsibility is to prosecute electoral offenders, so that INEC can concentrate its energy on conducting elections professionally and competently. For now we have entered into partnership with NBA and they promised to give us support so that we will be able to do that. There are many challenges even in that partnership.”

On how the commission had coped with the internal crisis and litigations in PDP, Jega said INEC relied on its legal team for advice.

He said, “INEC is a law abiding organisations. Since we came in, INEC has a full complement of legal services department with very experienced lawyers. We also have a legal consortium with four Senior Advocates of Nigeria. And everything we do, we seek their opinion. The problem with legal services in Nigeria is that every lawyer you consult gives you a different opinion.

“In all the litigations, our position is guided by the best interest of the country and how to improve the electoral process. We rely on the advice of our in-house lawyers and the advice of our legal consortium.”

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