Less than two years to the 2023 general elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has expressed concern over delay in the amendment of Electoral Act.
In his remark during a public hearing on the Electoral Offences Commission Bill, the Chairman of INEC, Professor Mahmoud Yakubu, said that the commission “is anxious to know the legal framework to govern the conduct of the 2023 general elections.
Yakubu 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,
He, however, revealed that the presidential election is fixed for February 18, 2023, and that the time table to that effect will come out after Anambra state governorship election, scheduled to hold on the 6th of November 2021.
He said: “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.”
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, bye-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 pointed out.
The INEC Chairman disclosed that since the 2015 general elections, 124 cases that 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 prosecution of offenders not just of ballot box snatchers and falsifiers of result of election, but most importantly, their sponsors.
Yakubu said: “We look forward to the day when highly placed sponsors of thuggery including chieftains of political parties and candidates will be prosecuted.”
The Chairman of Senate Committee on INEC, Senator Kabiru Gaya, who also spoke at the event 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.”
