The Indepenldent National Electoral Commission has expressed concern over delay in the passage of the Electoral Act ( Amendment ) Bil by the National Assembly.
This was made known by the INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmud Yakubu during a public hearing on the Electoral Offences Commission Bill, organised by the Senate Commitee on INEC.
He said that the commission “is anxious to know the legal framework to govern the conduct of the 2023 general elections.
He expressed disappointment that barely a year and nine months to the next general election, the National Assembly is yet to pass the Electoral Act amendment bill,
According to him, the time table for the general elections which commence on February 18, 2023 , will come out after Anambra state governorship election, scheduled to hold on the 6th of November 2021.
“The 2023 general elections will hold on Saturday, 18 February 2023 which is exactly one year, nine months, two weeks and six days away from today”, he said.
Expressing the support of INEC for the Electoral Offences Commission Bill, Yakubu lamented that the public hearing on it was being done 13 years after the recommendation of the Uwais Committee in 2008.
“And beyond that, there had also been so many reports basically calling for action on electoral offenders,” he said.
The INEC boss noted that the commission is saddled with a lot of responsibilities ranging from the registration and regulation of political parties to conduct of elections to registration of voters, delineation of constituencies, conduct of elections, by-elections, referendum recall and the elections appear unending.
“So it is important as we consider this bill to take into consideration, those enormous responsibilities that the commission discharges,” he stressed.
The INEC Chairman disclosed that since the 2015 general elections, 124 cases have been filed in court and are being prosecuted, adding, “so far, we have only achieved 60 convictions out of 124 including the latest one that we all know about in Akwa Ibom.”
He said INEC will like to see more prosecutions of offenders not just of ballot box snatchers and falsifiers of result of election, but most importantly, their sponsors.
His words: “We look forward to the day when highly placed sponsors of thuggery including chieftains of political parties and candidates will be prosecuted.”
In his remarks, the Chairman of Senate Committee on INEC, Senator Kabiru Gaya said “the bill provides for the Commission to investigate and prosecute electoral offenders on the powers of the Attorney General, adopt measures to prevent, minimize and eradicate electoral offences.”
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