Amid the widespread violence and offences typical of elections nationwide, the enabling culture of impunity continues to fester with no perpetrator brought to book as deterrence. Most confounding is the Electoral Offences Bill that has summarily gone into oblivion at the House of Representatives, KEHINDE OLATUNJI reports.
Nigeria’s failure to prosecute electoral offenders is a ticking time bomb, threatening the foundations of its democracy. This lack of accountability has fostered an environment rife with election-related violence, snatching of ballot boxes, and vote buying – all of which severely compromise the legitimacy and stability of the electoral process.
While some electoral offenders have been arrested, their cases often do not reach a logical conclusion, resulting in a rise in electoral malpractices that erode public trust and deter citizens’ participation in the democratic process.
Some international observers have estimated that over 100 people were killed in connection with the last general elections. But the Nigeria Election Violence Tracker (NEVT), maintained by the Centre for Democracy and Development and Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (CDDACLED), counted 109 election-related deaths in early 2023, while the Incident Centre for Election Atrocities (ICEA) put the number higher at 137.
SB Morgen Intelligence in its report stated that “The March 18, 2023 governorship and House of Assembly elections, held after the presidential and National Assembly elections, were characterised by poor turnout due to fear of violence by thugs.”
The report stated: “Thugs hijacked and burnt election materials in Ogbia, Bayelsa, making the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials flee to Yenagoa for safety. ‘Iceland’ members were accused of threatening non-PDP voters in Rivers, while some thugs forcefully demanded access to election materials in Akwa-Ibom.
“The most striking examples of violence are from Lagos and other states where a long-standing ruling party wants to stay in power forcefully,” the report stated.
But a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, gave a startling number of people arrested for various electoral offenses as 870,000 in 2011; 900,000 in 2015 and 1.1 in 2019, but regretted that less than one per cent of these suspects were prosecuted.
This culture of impunity has created an environment where individuals and groups feel encouraged to disrupt the electoral process, knowing they will not face consequences of their heinous act.
The desperation of the politicians, who engage party thugs in disrupting peaceful conduct of the election and cast aspersion on its credibility necessitated the call for the establishment of an Electoral Offences Commission since 2003.
In 2003, 2007, 2011, and subsequent general elections held till date, electoral offences ranging from voter inducement, ballot box snatching, and more have become the order of the day. This explains why the Electoral Reform Committee headed by a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Mohammed Uwais, had in 2007 recommended the establishment of a special prosecution body to be known as the Electoral Offences Commission.
It would be recalled that the Senate passed the Electoral Offences Bill on July 14, 2021 and forwarded it to the House of Representatives. Since then, the lower chamber has not passed the bill even after holding a public hearing on the bill.
The then chairman of the Senate Committee on INEC, Senator Kabiru Gaya, who presented the report of the public hearing on July 13, 2021 said the bill became necessary in view of INEC’s inability to prosecute electoral offenders in accordance with the provisions of sections 149 and 150(2) of the Electoral Act (as Amended).
Sensing that members of the House of Representatives was foot dragging in passing the bill, Mr Femi Falana (SAN) in June 2022 wrote a letter to the House, demanding information on what stalled legislative processes on the bill.
He said: “Even though sections 114-121 of the Electoral Act have made adequate provisions for electoral offences, INEC does not have the capacity to arrest, investigate and prosecute electoral offenders. In the atmosphere of official impunity the leading members of the political class have engaged themselves in the dollarisation of the electoral process, vote buying, intimidation of political opponents, killing and thuggery, ballot snatching and so on.
“In view of the foregoing, we are compelled to request the Speaker to furnish us with information on the Electoral Offences Commission Bill passed by the Senate and forwarded to the House of Representatives since July last year. As this request is made pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, 2011 you are requested to provide the requested information within seven days of the receipt of this letter. Take note that if you fail or refuse to accede to our request we shall not hesitate to file an application for mandamus at the Federal High Court to compel you to disclose the requested information.”
Curiously, Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, was the Speaker of the House of Representative that did not pass the bill.
The bill passed by the Senate prescribes a 20-year jail term for offenders found guilty of snatching ballot boxes during elections.
Some of the relevant portions of the bill provides for the establishment of the National Electoral Offences Commission (NEOC) as a corporate body capable of suing and being sued.
The bill also provided for the functions of the commission to include investigation of all electoral offences created in any law relating to elections in Nigeria, and the prosecution of offenders of these offences in addition to other functions. The bill provides that the commission shall have an Investigation, Legal and Prosecutions Unit, an Elections Monitoring and Operations Unit, an Administration Unit, a Research and Training Unit.
The bill defines and prescribes punishments for electoral offences such as the offence of disturbing the public peace by using loudspeakers and playing musical instruments in a polling unit or its environs on election day, and punishing it with a minimum of six months imprisonment or a fine of N100,000 or both, the offence of defamation and damaging the character of an election candidate or his family member with a penalty of 10 years imprisonment or N10 million fine.
The offence of propagating information during a campaign that can undermine the independence, sovereignty, and unity of Nigeria, and capable of causing people to vote based on any religion, tribe or language amongst others, with a proposed punishment of 20 years imprisonment without fine.
The bill also made it an electoral offence for employers to refuse their employees a reasonable time for voting, punish them, or deduct from their remunerations for failure to show up to the office on election day, with the penalty for doing such being a fine of at least N6,000,000 or three years imprisonment.
Also, the bill provides that the courts, which shall have jurisdiction to try offences under the bill, are the Federal High Court and the High Court of a State or Federal Capital Territory. Furthermore, the bill laid out more stringent punishment for existing offences such as vote-buying and bribery; imposing a punishment of 15 years imprisonment, whereas under the Electoral Act, the offence carries a punishment of 12 months imprisonment or a fine of N500,000 or both.
A lot of the existing electoral offences under the Electoral Act have been redefined in the bill with more stringent punishment in the form of a greater imprisonment term, fine, or both.
Although Section 145 of the Electoral Act 2022 empowers INEC to prosecute electoral offenders in the 36 states of the federation and the FCT, INEC Chairman Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, had at different times said the electoral body does not have the capacity to investigate, arrest and prosecute electoral offenders.
Speaking with The Guardian, on the implication of not punishing electoral offenders, a public affairs analyst, Kunle Egbetokun, lamented that the consequences are far-reaching, which he said, has resulted in erosion of public trust, where citizens lose faith in the electoral process, leading to voter apathy and disillusionment.
He said: “Urgent action is needed to address this culture of impunity. By strengthening electoral laws, establishing special courts, and promoting transparency, Nigeria can ensure peaceful, credible, and violence-free elections. The future of democracy depends on it.”
However, a renowned legal practitioner and former National President of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), Malachy Ugwummadu, emphasised the critical role of INEC in prosecuting electoral offenders.
According to Ugwummadu, Section 145 of the Electoral Act, 2022, expressly granted INEC prosecutorial power, making it not only a regulatory body but also a prosecutorial one.
“This provision is not new. It previously existed as Section 150 of the Electoral Act, 2010. I’m familiar with this because several years ago, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) sent me a letter indicating their collaboration with INEC to prosecute electoral offences.”
Ugwummadu explained that the collaboration was necessary due to INEC’s lack of manpower to pursue prosecutions. Despite this partnership, electoral offences remain a persistent issue.
He said, “We are still grappling with this problem over a decade later. However, I’m glad the current NBA president is taking this concern seriously and deepening the collaboration.”
Noting that a committee has been established to operationalise the partnership and combat impunity, Ugwummadu stressed that effective prosecution and collaboration between INEC and the NBA are crucial in combating impunity and ensuring credible elections.
Ugwummadu noted that electoral offences undermine the credibility of elections, but questioned the need for an electoral offence bill, citing existing laws such as Section 150 of the Electoral Act.
He argued that some electoral offences constitute criminal activities under Nigeria’s criminal laws, making additional legislation unnecessary.
He said, “I don’t think creating and specifically coming up with an electoral bill is not far-fetched. We already have enough laws to deal with that.
However, Ugwummadu emphasised the importance of a credible voter’s register, effective election conduct, and logistics management on Election Day. He warned against over-legislating electoral processes.
But former President, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, posited that Nigeria is not ready to address the issue of election violence, saying it’s not about the laws but the will.
According to him, “See what happens when they are asked to sign the peace accord, how many of them (politicians) show up and those that signed, did they do it sincerely or just to show face? Those involved in election violence are sponsored.
“We have a plethora of laws. The multiplicity of laws will not address the problem the human agencies are supposed to solve. We can have infrastructure that gives us the glorification of the institution but human agency is important. How do we see electoral ethics, how dear do we hold it?
“The most saddening thing is that they are taking this culture too far because secondary school students are not being recruited. Laws in itself are not the solutions but what is driving our value system, civic responsibilities and what obligations are we promoting.”
Executive Secretary of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Tony Ojukwu (SAN), urged House of Representatives to pass the Electoral Offenses Commission bill like its counterpart in the Senate, to enable the country to deal with cases of electoral violence, which has characterised some of the elections in the past.
He noted that if the bill is passed and subsequently signed into law by the President, it will empower INEC to concentrate on organising credible polls while the responsibility of prosecuting electoral offenders will rest on the proposed National Electoral Offences Commission.
Also speaking, public affairs analyst, Gbenga Abegunde noted that the consequences of not having the law are dire, saying when offenders go unpunished, it sends a devastating message that such behaviour are acceptable and will go unpunished.
He said: “Weak institutions, inadequate investigations, and corruption within the system have created a culture of impunity. Electoral offenders know they can act with reckless abandon, without facing consequences.
“To break this cycle, Nigeria must strengthen its institutions, enhance investigations, and promote transparency. The Electoral Act must be enforced, and offenders held accountable. Only then can Nigeria ensure free, fair, and credible elections. The clock is ticking. Nigeria must act now to prevent electoral chaos and protect its democracy.”
