From David Onwuchekwa, Nnewi
Former Executive Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Dr Okey Chidolue in Nnewi, Anambra State recalled that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu had not long ago called for the prosecution of 2023 election offenders, describing it as a brilliant pronouncement.
In his analysis, the problem with the pronouncement was that about ninety percent of the offenders might be permanent and ad hoc staff of the election umpire.
He queried who would provide necessary prosecution details for the prosecutors.
Dr Chidolue noted that the Electoral Act, as amended, provided for dereliction of duty by election officials. He insisted that dereliction of duty was a shameful failure to fulfil one’s official obligations.
“The Act specifically provided that appointed officials who without lawful excuse commit any act or omit to act in breach of their official duty commit an offence and are liable on conviction to a fine or imprisonment of twelve months or both. Similarly, the Act provided that any person who announces or publishes an election result knowing same to be false or which is at variance with signed certificate of return commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term of 36 months. Emphasis is mine.
“The irregularities and mindless rigging in the 2023 Presidential election is a public knowledge that has been collaborated by both local and international observers. The European Union report was particularly damaging with culpability on INEC’s doorstep. Therefore, the INEC Chairman’s call for prosecution of election offenders can only be described as a laughable stunt, for the following reasons:
“First, the INEC Chairman knew or should have known that the election results will not be transmitted in real-time when he repeatedly informed unsuspecting voters that their results would be uploaded in real-time.
“This violation is beyond mere breach of the Electoral Act. It is a breach of public trust because INEC failed woefully to keep one single promise from the many promises that it made to the general voting public. This violation is such that if the perpetrator is not prosecuted, it will become a license to other election officials in the future.
“Second, as colleagues, the INEC Chairman knew or should have known that majority of his permanent and ad hoc staff were incurably corrupt and compromised.
“It is beyond belief how our electoral system punishes election touts but encourages big boys and Dames, mostly university Professors, to flout the law with amazing impunity. No wonder why some of our universities have become breeding grounds for cultists and kidnappers.
“For the records, apart from Professor Otti and a few others, they know who they are, the rest of the involved university Professors in 2023 elections should tender a written and unreserved apology to ordinary Nigerians.
“Third, the INEC Chairman knew or should have known that the entire election results had not been uploaded and collated at the time he announced the final Presidential election result.
“And, for well over one month after the announcement of Presidential election result, the election results were still being uploaded and collated. Some of the uploaded and allocated results were blurred and unreadable, yet the blurred result sheets were assigned to a candidate without verification. This is pure madness for a twenty four years old democracy that should be a shinning example for the rest of Black Africa, ” said Dr Chidolue, a senior lawyer.
He said, as a matter of importance, that the INEC Chairman knew or should have known that the Presidential election result he declared was at variance with the official IREV data of the Commission which he described to be in blatant violation of both the letter and spirit of the Electoral Act.
He insisted that for those reasons, and much more, that the INEC Chairman and those he called his co-conspirators should save the country from further embarrassment by voluntarily turning themselves in for prosecution.
He said that had to be done instead of, according to him, insulting the common sensibilities of Nigerians by absolving themselves and telling the nation that ordinary Nigerians should be prosecuted for Electoral violations.