•Okay 5-year jail term for declaration of false results

From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja

The House of Representatives has commenced consideration of the report of the House Committee on Electoral Matters, on a bill to amend the Electoral Act, 2022.

The House, at the Committee of the Whole, approved a five year jail term for any returning officer, who declares false results at any election and 10 years jail term for failing to record election results in the prescribed form.

Clauses approved also included a two-year jail term for any Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), who failed to release the Certified True Copies of election results, as well as a proposal that pre-election matters should be entertained in Federal High Court, in states where the cases originated.

However, lawmakers were sharply divided on the proposal for the disqualification of candidates found guilty of providing false information on their eligibility to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Some lawmakers argued that rather than disqualifying the candidate and his party and declaring the candidate with the next highest votes cast as winner, INEC should be mandated  to conduct a fresh election excluding the candidate and his party.

Another group of lawmakers maintained that the proposal was in order, as it makes it mandatory for the political parties to do due diligence before presenting any candidate for any poll.

The committee had proposed that where election has been held and the winner is found guilty of presenting false information on his or her eligibility to the electoral body, the court shall direct the commission to declare the candidate with the second highest valid votes who satisfy the constitutional requirements as winner of the election, while the candidate who does not meet the qualification requirements, shall be liable to a fine or N5 million.

The House also adopted clauses proposing stiffer penalties against vote-buying and other electoral offences.

The proposed legislation, which recommends a fine of N5million, against N500,000 stipulated by the extant law, for anyone found guilty of buying or selling votes or in possession of voter card(s), that does not belong to them, proposes the mandatory use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) or any other technological devices for voter accreditation.

While anyone found guilty of inducing delegates during primary election shall be liable to two years imprisonment.

The House deferred further consideration of the report to today.