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Barely nine months after the general election that produced elected government officials at the federal and state levels, it is gratifying to hear that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would soon commence the prosecution of electoral offenders. Reports say that the electoral umpire made 1, 076 arrests in 35 states in relation to various electoral offences and would enlist the services of senior lawyers to put the suspects on trial, with the view to getting them punished.
Arresting, prosecuting and punishing electoral offenders are steps in the right direction. When there are laws against infractions, there should be the political will to implement the spelt out consequences. When offenders are not only punished but also seen to have been punished, it would go a long way in serving as a deterrent to others who may want to commit the offence in future. When offenders are not punished, the tragedy of not doing anything would embolden others to do what is wrong.
The last general election was characterised by so many malfeasance, which affected the outcome thereof. Across the country, there were cases of vote buying, gratification of electoral officers and security personnel, intimidation of voters, denial of voters the opportunity to exercise their civic duty of supporting candidates of their choice, ballot box stuffing, ballot box snatching, declaration of election results in places where elections did not take place, election result padding and sundry offences. These offences were orchestrated and executed by politicians, who believe that election victory must be achieved at all costs. They succeed and enjoy their fraudulent victory, but institutions and democracy suffer. The country, Nigeria, is worse for it.
Going by the magnitude of the fraud associated with the general election, it is obvious that 1,076 arrests are too small. It is even worse that prosecution of offenders are coming many months after the offences were committed. In countries where security agencies are alive to their responsibility, more arrests could have been made and the offenders facing trial soon after. However, one must say that irrespective of the number of those that would face trial, it is good that some people would be held accountable for their actions. And if found guilty they would face the law. This is a good consolation.
It is therefore commendable that INEC is ready to put electoral offenders in the dock, while we hope that the judiciary would play its part well enough, applying the law and ensuring that there is punishment when the cases are proven. However, the prosecution of electoral offenders should not be handled in the manner of fulfilling all righteousness while nothing comes out of it. These cases should be diligently prosecuted and speedily too, so that the guilty would be punished.
The way INEC dispassionately handled the case of the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Adamawa State, Hudu Yunus-Ari, who illegally declared the results of the state’s governorship election, when it was not in his purview to do so, should serve as a template in the pursuit of justice by the electoral commission. The INEC had first suspended the REC and then reported the matter to the police, which led to the subsequent arrest of the suspect. The commission also declared the results earlier released by the REC as null and void and went ahead to declare the authentic result, using the Returning Officer, as prescribed by the law. That is how it should be. When an institution is desirous of not hiding skeleton in its cupboard, it is laying a foundation for its strengthening and firm establishment.
It must be emphasised that the prosecution of electoral offenders should not be seen as only the headache of the INEC. The security agencies, who make the arrest and conduct investigation, should serve as the driving force. Electoral offences are crimes against the state. Therefore, suits against electoral offenders should be between the state and the suspects, with security agencies as prosecutors.
In the alternative, the government should set up an Electoral Offences Commission to handle the arrest, investigation and prosecution of electoral offences. This commission should function, in the electoral system, like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) functions in financial sector. The establishment of such commission will detach the INEC from getting involved in election offences cases, so as to have enough time and concentration to deal with the organisation and conduct of elections. There may not be need to have Election Offences Tribunal as some people canvass. The courts, despite some actions that tend to erode the confidence people have in them, still have the capacity to deal with such legal matters. However, there should be legislation on the timeframe within which electoral offences matter must be dispensed with. Prompt determination of the cases will quicken the sword of justice and the punishment of the guilty ones.
The government should take the fight against electoral offences seriously. If there are no safeguards for elections, they would become a joke, a mere exercise where might would become right, where those who have the instrument of violence, coercion and criminality would run roughshod over hapless citizens. Election should be transparent and allowed to represent the will of the voters. Where there are manipulations and they prevail, with the court failing to dispense justice, the essence of democracy would be defeated.
It is really sad that people go out of their way to commit electoral fraud and nothing happens. The offenders go free and those who benefit from their evil machination also go free. In the last election, people of tribes other than Yoruba, were threatened, coerced and not allowed to vote in Lagos because of the perception that they were going to vote against a preferred candidate by thugs and hoodlums. Some known names openly boasted, in viral video clips, that they would not allow non-indigenes to vote against their candidates. These people had their way, as their act of voters’ suppression gave their preferred candidate the edge to win. Although the act of coercion and voters’ suppression are a crime, the perpetrators, whose crime was on record, in viral video, are walking free. This should not be the case.
Thugs and hoodlums who aid politicians to perpetrate election crimes are now audacious. There is need to tackle them head on by the authorities. There would be need to tweak the measures aimed at curtailing these election offences. The practice of having uniform policemen at polling areas without arms should be reexamined. Sending policemen to election stations without arms is tantamount to sending soldiers to the warfront unarmed. Experience has shown that the presence of unarmed policemen at polling station does not stop those who commit election crimes. We have seen a situation where policemen watch helplessly, while thugs and criminals invade polling areas with arms to either disrupt proceedings or destroy election materials. There was a funny case in one of the states, in the last off circle governorship elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi, where thugs pounced on an INEC adhoc staff, who was announcing results and the only thing the policemen around could do was to shout, pleadingly, ‘please don’t kill him.’ Nobody would blame the policemen. Unarmed policemen are impotent. Such officers are like dead rats that pose no threat to anybody.
Having armed security personnel at polling areas would send signals to troublemakers that danger lurks around. Criminals weigh their risks before venturing into places. Where they know that the risk is high, they think twice and be circumspect. It is only a fool that would go ahead to expose himself or herself when he or she knows that success in the venture is remote. Arming policemen on election duties, therefore, should no longer be seen as uncivil, since thugs, criminals and hoodlums working for criminal politicians are not afraid to perpetrate evil on election day. What the authorities should do is to clearly define the rule of engagement for such policemen, soldiers and other security operatives and monitor them closely, to ensure that they do not turn their guns against the people they are meant to protect at polling areas. It is better to be accused of policing or militarising elections to get good result than to have a situation where criminals run riot uninhibited.
Let the prosecution of electoral offenders continue. Let the guilty be punished. Let the punishment be tougher, not having option of fines of N100, 000 or N500, 000, but big jail terms. Let the trial and convictions be widely publicised. Let our democracy be protected.
