Election petition: INEC to punish indicted officials

The Acting Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mrs Amina Zakari, yesterday said that any staff of the commission indicted by the elections petitions would be severely dealt with, in line with the law. Speaking at the public presentation of the final report on the 2015 elections organised by Civil Society Situation Room in Abuja, Zakari stated that: “There have been many conversations about the post-election tribunals and judicial proceedings. Before we discuss them further, I would like to provide some facts. In 2007, a total of 1,290 petitions were filed in the tribunals. In 2011, it was 732 while 663 petitions were filed in 2015.

The reduction is driven by improvement in our electoral process but we would like to see a continued downward trend. “I would like to make it clear that electoral malpractices will not be tolerated as the commission will continue to drive transparency and effectiveness. Any INEC official found wanting in the tribunals will be punished to the full extent of the law.”

The INEC boss also spoke on the challenges the commission faced in the execution of the 2015 general elections. According to her, “The smart card readers had widely reported challenges in the presidential elections which we worked to reduce in subsequent elections, but there is still work to be done. “The commission’s effort at constituency delimitation and polling units review were met with stiff resistance from some stakeholders, who erroneously felt that the move was too close to the general elections and meant to favour some political parties, regions, regions or individuals.

“In view of its sensitive nature, the commission shelved that in order not to serve as a distraction to the elections. Contentious as these two issues may be, they need to be addressed through wider consultations and an earlier timetable to ensure all stakeholders understand the nature and objective of the exercise.” Zakari said INEC will use the Kogi and Bayelsa governorship elections as opportunity to continue to display improved process and rigor. She said: “We are serious about our Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) process.

We are going to embark on the CVR exercises in Kogi and Bayelsa. Those registered will have their cards printed and in a timely fashion, voters’ transfers will also be supported for those two states. “In conducting elections in both states, the commission will apply lessons learnt from the previous elections with the Stand Alone Governorship elections in Anambra, Ekiti and Osun states and the general elections.”

Presenting the report, the Executive Director of Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), Clement Nwankwo, called for the amendment of the constitution to bring Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) under the control and direction of INEC headquarters through appointments of State Directors of Elections to replace the RECs.

They also recommended that the executive and legislative arms of government should resolve the disagreements over the proposed amendments to the constitution and ensure that proposals seeking to improve the electoral process receive the attention they deserve.

The Situation Room also said that INEC should immediately commence arrangements to reorganise constituencies and polling units in Nigeria which they said is long overdue. Also, it added that the commission should extend the period for the conduct of a re-run election from 7 to 21 days.