The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega yesterday admitted that the expectations of Nigerians in the commission to check electoral malpractices through the prosecution of electoral offenders have failed due to constraints experienced in the constitutional provision and poor gathering of evidences against multitude of Nigerians indicted during the 2011 elections.
Jega, who was in Yenagoa for the Summit held with Stakeholders and Governorship Candidates for the February 11th election in the State, said though the Commission had succeeded in prosecuting over 200 persons for various electoral offences, the failures of existing courts to accelerate prosecution of offenders, the lack of an Election Offenders Tribunal, the non-availability of legal teams and the lackluster attitude of Police to investigation of allegations against offenders contributed to the failures recoded in the prosecution of thousands of indicted offenders.
Jega, told a multitude of stakeholders in Bayelsa state, that the Commission has set out to correct its record of failures in the area of prosecution of Election Offenders with two correspondence to the Leadership of the National Assembly to revisit the Justice Mohammed Uwais Electoral Reform Committee report on the setting up of a Special Election Prosecution Tribunal to ensure quick prosecution of indicted offenders including the Senator in Bayelsa State who was indicted in the 2011 National Assembly election in the West Senatorial District of the State.
Professor Jega said the existing laws saddled the INEC with the prosecution of electoral offenders and the commission will do it to the best of our knowledge. He also informed that the Commission has entered into partnership with the Nigerian Bar Association. “If we want sanity in the electoral processes we need to deal with impunity. Politicians commit offences with impunity. And they have to be prosecuted and to prosecute, you must have evidence. Like the Senator in Bayelsa West. There was Prima Facie case against him and I reported to the security agencies. The next issue should have been prosecution but the police and security should have done theirs. INEC should not be blamed for it. People should know where to assign responsibility.”
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