INEC Seeks Removal Of AGF’s Power To Make Rules For Commission

– As EFCC Kicks Against Creation Of Electoral Offences Commission

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has kicked against “conferring additional power” on the Attorney-General of the Federation to make rules or regulations for the proposed Electoral Offences Commission.

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INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, made reservations about some clauses in the Electoral Offences Commission Bill which according to him may hamper the independence of the commission when established.

Yakubu spoke on Tuesday at a public hearing organized by the House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters on the bill to establish the electoral offences commission.

The public hearing was chaired by Hon. Aisha Dukku.

The INEC chairman said, “We have studied the 46 Clauses of the Bill under consideration and made 16 comments. I would like to touch on two Clauses and make a general observation while submitting our detailed comments to the Committee. First is Clause 33(1) of the Bill which confers jurisdiction on Federal, State and FCT High Courts to try offenders under the Bill. However, these Courts are already over-burdened. It is proposed that the Electoral Offences Tribunal be established with exclusive jurisdiction to try electoral offenders.

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“The second is Clause 44 which empowers the Attorney-General of the Federation to make rules or regulations for the Commission. Conferring additional power to any other body may cause friction or conflict with the Commission which should be independent in the discharge of its functions even if doing so requires a consequential amendment to other laws of the Federation to empower the Commission and guarantee its independence.

“In any case, Clause 1(2)[c] of the Bill grants the Commission power to make its own rules and regulations. Thirdly, because work on the Bill started before the passage of the current Electoral Act into law, all references to the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), for example, Clause 39(1), should be replaced with relevant provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.”

Yakubu noted that the bill which provides for various sanctions ranging from 6 months to 20 years and fines ranging from N100,000 to N50 million would help in effective prosecution of high-profile election offenders in the country.

“The Commission would like to see more successful prosecution of offenders, not just ballot box snatchers, falsifiers of election results and vote buyers at polling units but most importantly, their sponsors. We look forward to the day when highly placed sponsors of thuggery, including high-profile figures that seek to benefit from these violations, are arrested and prosecuted. We believe the work of the proposed Commission will help in this regard.

“In addition to these responsibilities, the Commission is required to prosecute electoral offenders. However, the Commission’s incapacity to arrest offenders or conduct an investigation that leads to the successful prosecution of especially the high-profile offenders led to the suggestion to unbundle the Commission and assign some of its extensive responsibilities to other agencies as recommended by the Uwais and Nnamani Committees.

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“For those who argue that the solution does not lie in expanding the federal bureaucracy by creating a new Commission, we believe that the National Electoral Offences Commission should be seen as an exception. While there are other security agencies that deal with economic and financial crimes, I am yet to hear anyone who, in good conscience, thinks that it is unnecessary to have established anti-corruption agencies,” he said.

EFCC KICKS AGAINST BILL

Meanwhile, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, during the public hearing, kicked against the establishment of the commission.

EFCC Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, who was represented by Deborah Adamu-Eteh, Assistant Commander of EFCC, said most of the offences listed in the proposed bill were already being taken care of by the anti-graft agencies.

“A holistic review of the contents of the proposed bill shows that the offences contained therein in Part IV (Sections 13-32) largely constitute offences that have already been criminalised by extant laws such as the Electoral Act, 2022 (See Sections 114-129), The Penal and Criminal Codes, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Act, 2000; The Economic and Financial Crimes (Establishment)Act, 2004.

“If is apposite to state that these offences are offences that the Nigerian Police, the Federal Ministry of Justice, the Economic and Financial Crimes (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) and even the Independent National Electoral Commission (in Section 145 of the Electoral Act, 2022) are empowered under our extant laws to investigate and prosecute.

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“There is, therefore, no need for creating an agency solely for the purpose of investigating and prosecuting electoral offences most especially when our electoral process is seasonal in nature being that elections are held once in four years in the Country.”

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