The proposed Electoral Offences Commission

Although mixed reactions have trailed the approval by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) that the Electoral Offences Commission Bill (2018) and two other bills on electoral reforms be forwarded to the National Assembly to enhance quick passage into law, we believe it is a necessary step to tackle the plethora of electoral cases in our courts.
The other two bills are Constitution Alteration Bill (2018); Electoral Act amendment BIll (2018).
Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, who briefed State House Correspondents at the end of last week’s meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, said the president remained committed to strengthening the electoral process, hence the setting up of the Ken Nnamani Electoral Reforms Committee, whose report, among others, gave rise to the bills as well as the need to have permanent institutions to drive the reforms.
However, a former federal lawmaker, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, said the move was in bad faith.
“This is another election subterfuge, so that in the end they would say they have done what others could not do.
But then how does he (President) want to go about it? I personally don’t believe there is sincerity of purpose in the move.” Elder statesman and Second Republic politician, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai, expressed reservation over the move, saying its timing appears suspicious.
“The point is that since the courts can handle the matter, why do we need a tribunal which is largely political in nature? We generally have tribunals during the military era, but a tribunal that is not envisaged in our constitution can become an instrument of persecution of perceived political opponents.
“Even if the government sincerely believes in the need for such a tribunal, it ought to have considered the need for it a long time ago.
The timing is wrong.
This idea appears like an afterthought.
“There is the fear in this country these days that whatever this government is doing, it has a hidden agenda, particularly if the issue is viewed against the one-sided nature of the government’s fight against corruption.
“So many people were arrested on the allegation of corrupt practices, a number of them were arraigned before the courts of law but unfortunately these arrests are not followed by diligent prosecution.
And most of those arrested are members of the opposition.
And Even those members of the opposition, once they defect to the ruling party, the matter is swept under the carpet,” Yakassai, said.
Former governor of old Kaduna State and Chairman, Board of Trustees (BOT), Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Alhaji Balarabe Musa, has said that the National Assembly does not need more than a month to pass the bill on Election Offences Tribunal, if they are serious.
“One month is enough to work on the bill if they mean to work on it.
But what Nigerians need is fair and free election in 2019.
No politician can be trusted, but we have to give President Muhammadu Buhari the benefit of the doubt about the bill,” he said.
But the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said it would react only after seeing the details of the proposed commission.
It is instructive that the nation’s electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), had advocated a special tribunal on electoral offences.
INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmoud Yakubu, specifically asked the federal government to set up the Electoral Offences Tribunal if the commission must handle cases involving violators of the country’s elections ahead of the 2019 general elections.
Yakubu made the request in Abuja recently while unveiling the commission’s four-year strategic plan, insisting that the commission was already saddled with scores of responsibilities in the conduct of the required free, fair and credible election in the country as INEC would always improve if certain roles in the election process were removed from it.
He said: “We had some difficult rerun elections; one of it was in Michika state constituency in Kano.
The severity of the violence in that election was such that we had to invoke Section 26 of the Electoral Act to suspend the election.
“In that election, we worked with the police and prosecuted 40 electoral offenders, the highest number of recorded prosecution in the history of INEC”.
Blueprint views the proposed electoral offences commission as an inevitable legal instrument in the quest to sanitise the nation’s electoral process and make it devoid of acrimony, brigandage, and multifaceted crimes that had characterized our electoral system over the years.
Besides, the proposed tribunal will also eliminate the incidence of delays associated with the ordinary courts will be speedily and expeditiously disposed of.
This is quite remarkable as time is of the essence in electoral cases.
We, therefore, urge Nigerians of all political persuasions to support the proposed commission in order to facilitate our democratic evolution.