Alex Enumah in Abuja
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) wednesday recommended for prosecution, officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the police, individuals and staff of local government areas indicted for various electoral fraud during the 2015 general election.
Acting Executive Secretary of the commission, Oti Ovrawah, who disclosed this wednesday during a public presentation of phase two of the “End Electoral Impunity†project report in Abuja, stated that with the finalisation of the report in the second phase, a follow up list of indicted persons or institutions would be transmitted to the AGF and the respective state attorneys-general for further necessary action.
“I am glad to inform you of the completion of the project having considered the 2015 election cycle in Nigeria. In the first phase of the project, 2007 and 2011 election cycles were considered.â€
She noted that there were several misconceptions about the project, as reflected in litigations against the commission arising from the report of the first phase.
Ovrawah however observed that there was need to clarify the methodology and essence of the commission’s intervention due to the wrong perception in some quarters that the commission reviewed judgments of court in the project.
“The commission does not have such powers neither has it exercised such.
“What the commission has done in this study is to extract verbatim, statements used by either the Election Petition Tribunal or the Court of Appeal in relation to the election petitions before them.
“These statements by the courts, where they indicted either persons or institutions, were put together by the commission for onward transmission to the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) as well as the Attorneys-General of respective states,†he said.
In a brief presentation of the project report which was supported by the Ford Foundation, Prof. Nsongurua Udombana, the Project Chairman, noted the need for the courts to stand up to their responsibilities in curbing electoral impunity.
He said this was by referring established cases of crimes committed during elections to the appropriate authorities as enshrined in Section 149 of the Electoral Act, 2010.
“In the majority of the cases reviewed, the election petition tribunals failed to exercise the powers given them in the Electoral Act, which is to direct the appropriate authorities to investigate and prosecute alleged electoral infractions.
In a goodwill message, The acting Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Abdul Kafarati, noted that electoral impunity was against the tenets of democracy.
Kafarati who was represented by Justice John Tsoho, said since elections were a key component of a democracy, all must be done to eschew electoral impunity in order to enjoy a thriving democracy.
He promised that the Federal High Court would play its role sufficiently to ensure that justice was served to electoral offenders.
Those indicted in the report for their role in the 2015 election include some INEC staff, ward collation officers, returning officers among others, totaling 35 indictments.
