The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has called on the House of Representatives to pass the Electoral Offences Commission Bill like the Senate to enable the country to deal with cases of electoral violence, which has characterised some of the past elections.

The Executive Secretary of the Commission, Chief Tony Ojukwu (SAN), who made the call in Abuja last Thursday, noted that if the bill is passed by the House of Representatives and subsequently signed into law by the President, it would empower the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to concentrate on organising credible polls while the responsibility of prosecuting electoral offenders would rest on the proposed National Electoral Offences Commission.

Ojukwu recalled that the Senate passed the bill since July 14, 2021, and forwarded it to the House of Representatives. He, therefore, wondered why the bill has remained pending in the House despite the inherent value it would add to the electoral process from the 2023 general election onwards.

He observed that although Section 145 of the Electoral Act 2022 empowers INEC to prosecute electoral offenders in the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), it does not have the capacity to investigate, arrest and prosecute electoral offenders.

Ojukwu observed that the said incapacity on the part of INEC has constituted a serious impediment in prosecuting electoral offences and other forms of misconduct before, during and after elections in the country.
The NHRC boss therefore called for the implementation of the Justice Mohammed Uwais Electoral Reforms recommendations particularly as it relates to establishment of National Electoral Offences Commission to deal with all forms of electoral offences so as to rekindle people’s confidence in the electoral process.

He recalled that the commission had carried out an electoral accountability project wherein it made far reaching recommendations to the Federal Government after painstakingly looking into the past orders and judgments that had arisen from the election petition cases to ensure the protection of the electoral rights of citizens

A statement by the commission’s Deputy Director, Fatimah Agwai Mohammed revealed that the Commission recommended to the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to prosecute certain persons who the Election Petition Tribunal or the Court of Appeal had indicted for misconducts during the 2007-2011 general elections and consequently ordered their prosecution.