INEC LISTS BENEFITS OF PROPOSED “NATIONAL ELECTORAL OFFENCES COMMISSION”

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is looking forward to the day when highly placed sponsors of thuggery and high-profile figures that seek to benefit from violations of the law are arrested and prosecuted, the Commission’s Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has said.

Speaking at the public hearing on the Bill for an Act to establish the National Electoral Offences Commission and Related Matters, organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters in Abuja on 23rd August 2022, Prof Yakubu said INEC would also like to see more successful prosecution of offenders, not just ballot box snatchers, falsifiers of election results and vote buyers at polling units. To him, the proposed Commission would facilitate the attainment of such an objective.

Although he regretted that the Commission had found the responsibility of prosecuting electoral offenders under the Electoral Act very challenging due to what he described as “obvious constraints”, Prof Yakubu, however, insisted that the reform of the electoral process would not be complete without effective sanctions on violators of the law.

He explained: “For instance, since the 2015 General Election, 125 cases of electoral offences were filed in various courts out of which only 60 convictions have been secured so far, including the most recent one in Akwa Ibom State.

“INEC is an electoral commission with extensive responsibilities, which include the registration and regulation of political parties, the monitoring of party and campaign finance, their primaries, congresses, meetings and conventions; nationwide Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) and the maintenance of the national register of voters; creation of polling units; delimitation of electoral constituencies; voter education and publicity; management of electoral logistics; recruitment, training and deployment of election duty officials.

“Other responsibilities include the conduct of numerous off-cycle and bye-elections; innovations to promote inclusivity and electoral integrity; election security in consultation with the security agencies; strategic engagement with stakeholders; formulation of regulations, guidelines and manuals for the conduct of elections and electoral activities to give clarity to the provisions of the Constitution and Electoral Act; and maintenance of extensive physical assets (offices, residential accommodation and other facilities) nationwide. In many jurisdictions, some of these responsibilities are carried out by distinct and autonomous agencies.”

According to him, in addition to these responsibilities, the Commission was still required to prosecute electoral offenders. But he stated that the Commission’s incapacity to arrest offenders or conduct investigations there were essential for the successful prosecution of the high-profile offenders, led to the suggestion that the Commission should be unbundled to allow for the assignment of some of its responsibilities to other agencies as recommended by the Uwais and Nnamani Committees.

For those who believe that there was no need for the expansion of the federal bureaucracy by the establishment of a new Commission, the INEC Chairman argued that the National Electoral Offences Commission should be an exception. He said: “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 the anti-corruption agencies.”

Prof. Yakubu said the Commission’s team had studied the 46 Clauses of the Bill and made 16 comments. He drew attention to Clauses 33(1) and 44. On the former, he said the conferment of jurisdiction on the Federal, State and FCT High Courts to try offenders under the Bill would put further pressure on the already over-burdened courts. Therefore, he proposed that the Electoral offences Tribunal be established with exclusive jurisdiction to try electoral offenders.

On the latter, which empowers the Attorney-General of the Federation to make rules or regulations for the Commission, Prof Yakubu reasoned that conferring additional power on any other body may cause friction with the proposed 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.”

Source:
https://inecnews.com/inec-lists-benefits-of-national-electoral-offences-commission/
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(EARLIER NEWS......
Hon. Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, makes a case for the establishment of the National Electoral Offences Commission at the public hearing on the Bill, organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters in Abuja...
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=448814987271566&id=100064292065433)
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REMARKS BY THE CHAIRMAN, INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION (INEC), PROFESSOR MAHMOOD YAKUBU, AT THE PUBLIC HEARING ORGANISED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COMMITTEE ON ELECTORAL MATTERS, HEARING ROOM 236 (NEW BUILDING, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES), NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, ABUJA, TUESDAY 23RD AUGUST 2022


1. On behalf of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), I would like to thank the Honourable Chairman and Honourable Member of the House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters in particular and the leadership of the National Assembly in general for organizing this public hearing. Coming about four months after a similar public hearing on the same Bill by the Senate Committee on INEC held on 28th April 2022, this is the closest the nation has come to the passage of the long overdue National Electoral Offences Commission Bill into law. I hope in the next few months, the National Assembly will pass the Bill so that it will not suffer the fate of previous efforts which were inchoate at the end of the lifespan of the Assembly.

2. The Bill for an Act to establish the National Electoral Offences Commission is a critical legislation. It has been part of all national conversations on constitutional and electoral reforms for the last 13 years. The Justice Mohammed Uwais Committee on electoral reforms recommended it in 2009, echoed by the Sheikh Ahmed Lemu Committee following the post-election violence of 2011 and, most recently, by the Senator Ken Nnamani Committee on Constitutional and Electoral Reform in 2017. Similar recommendations are contained in reports of police investigations, INEC administrative enquiries, court judgments, reports by the National Human Rights Commissionas well as several accredited election observers.

3. It is clear that the reform of our electoral process cannot be complete without effective sanctions on violators of our laws. At present, INEC is saddled with the responsibility of prosecuting electoral offenders under the Electoral Act. This has been very challenging for the Commission. For instance, since the 2015 General Election, 125 cases of electoral offences were filed in various Courts out of which 60 convictions have been secured so far, including the most recent one in Akwa Ibom State.

4. 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.

5. However, much as the Commission would like to see more successful prosecution of offenders, our effort is hampered by obvious constraints. INEC is basically an electoral commission with extensive responsibilities which include the registration and regulation of political parties, the monitoring of party and campaign finance, their primaries, congresses, meetings and conventions; nationwide Continuous Voter registration (CVR) and the maintenance of the national register of voters; creation of polling units; delimitation of electoral constituencies; voter education and publicity; management of electoral logistics; recruitment, training and deployment of election duty officials. Other responsibilities include the conduct of numerous off-cycle and bye-elections; new innovations to promote inclusivity and electoral integrity; election security in consultation with the security agencies; strategic engagement with stakeholders; formulation of regulations, guidelines and manuals for the conduct of elections and electoral activities to give clarity to the provisions of the Constitution and Electoral Act; and maintenance of extensive physical assets (offices, residential accommodation and other facilities) nationwide. In many jurisdictions, some of these responsibilities are carried out by distinct and autonomous agencies.

6. In addition to these responsibilities, the Commission is required to prosecute electoral offenders. However, the Commission’s incapacity to arrest offenders or conduct investigation that leads to 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.

7. 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 the anti-corruption agencies.

8. 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 Electoral Offences Tribunal be established with exclusive jurisdiction to try electoral offenders. 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 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 Electoral Act 2022.

9. Once again, the Commission commends the leadership of the National Assembly, as well as the Chairman and Honourable Members of the Committee on Electoral Matters for the invitation to this public hearing.

10. Thank you and God bless.

Source:
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=448900030596395&id=100064292065433

Free and fair election is all we ask for in 2023

Lalasticlala, Seun, Nlfpmod

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We need INEC to reconfigure the BVAS Device, so that it can be uploading two sets of data on the IREV Portal (Online Results Portal) simultaneously..
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The First set of Data should be the final Results as scanned by the BVAS Device..
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The Second set of Data should be THE NUMBER OF ACCREDITED VOTERS AS AUTOMATICALLY CAPTURED INSIDE THE BVAS WHILE THE VOTING WAS GOING ON...
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In fact,, this Accreditation Data should automatically upload itself from the BVAS direct to the Portal, immediately the Presiding Officer clicks that Voting Has Ended in the Polling Unit, even before the sorting and counting begins.

Gone are the days when APC have media monopoly to propagate their Evil agenda And character assassination of other presidential candidates. And it has effected their propaganda agenda more than they are willing to admit.

Obi-dients taking full and total control of the social media space is something the APC media house did not expect and they are not finding it funny at all. Because for every 10 Tinubu supporters on social media, there are about 50 Obi supporters ( Not to talk of Atiku supporters) that will counter them.

That is one of the major reasons their attempts on Peter Obi personality did not work. First it was Pandora propaganda then it was tribal propaganda and now it is Ipob connection propaganda. If not for the large percentage of Obidients in social media to counter them, they would have succeeded in destroying Peter obi popularity just as the did with Gej.........

There's a reason why APC supporters are fighting extremely hard to label Peter Obi social media supporters as irrelevant as for as election is concerne but unfortunately for them, the Endsars protect has shown the youths the powers of social media....

Yes election are not won on social media but it has enabled Nigerians to fully See, know and understand the qualities, personally and political agenda of all the presidencal candidates without the influence of APC propaganda media houses....

Lastly Atiku is Coming.

They have already paid kabaka and MC olumo... On that day they are going to kill people because they believed it's their turn...

They built Lagos but travel outside the country for medicals....


They are afraid to come to TV to tell us the plans they have for us because they do not have any plans, they just want us to know that it is their turn....


Daughter of Afenifere leader, Fasoranti, was killed by herdsmen and their only response was "where are the cows? Is Evans a herdsmen...

They worked against formation of Amotekun which would saved those killed at Owo church massacre if they had shown their support

They hate a Nigeria where everyone will be free by insisting on a Muslim Muslim ticket...

Their actions are obviously induced by drug and they shake from an effect of previous overdose of drugs....

Will they prosecute Mr Bullion van?

INEC should work inline with the Electoral act.

Good one

Oyyana needed

The New electoral law has somehow reduced the Rigging powers of the APC.

Kabaka, Mc. Olumo , Asari And co can try to rig for their pay master but it will have very little or no effect to the election results.

Because las las Atiku is coming

Let please support his excellency Mr Peter obi for the position of the president of this great nation Nigeria.., he really deserved it

This is good for our democracy. It will end an era of intimidation where area Boys are unleashed on voters to instil fear and subvert their resolve to vote for the candidate of their choice. If this happens a lot of supposedly popular politicians will see themselves loosing their very polling unit.

AkuOlisa:
Gone are the days when APC have media monopoly to propagate their Evil agenda and And character assassination of other presidential candidates. And it has effected their propaganda agenda more than they are willing to admit.

Obi-dients taking full and total control of the social media space is something the APC media house did not expect and they are not finding it funny at all. Because for every 10 Tinubu supporters on social media, there are about 50 Obi supporters ( Not to talk of Atiku supporters) that will counter them.

That is one of the major reasons their attempts on Peter Obi personality did not work. First it was Pandora propaganda then it was tribal propaganda and now it is Ipob connection propaganda. If not for the large percentage of Obidients in social media to counter them, they would have succeeded in destroying Peter obi popularity just as the did with Gej.........

There's a reason why APC supporters are fighting extremely hard to label Peter Obi social media supporters as irrelevant as for as election is concerne but unfortunately for them, the Endsars protect has shown the youths the powers of social media....

Yes election are not won on social media but it has enabled Nigerians to full See, know and understand the qualities, personally and political agenda of all the presidencal candidates without the influence of APC propaganda media houses....

Lastly Atiku is Coming.

Atiku is the winter which is coming, Tinubu is the night walker and where do we place Peter Obi?

So far is free and fair

Check that law well. There will be rooms to exploit it.
Evil geniuses.

Why is INEC always waiting for eve of elections to upgrade? Is their office not functional between elections?

Must we queue for pvc and have a deadline in crunch time?

After over 3 years of waiting for the next election. Are they all contract staff?

I’m still not impressed/deceived.

Will the commission also prosecute underage voters and those who registered them?

NaijaRoyalty:
Free and fair election is all we ask for in 2023

u clamor for free n fair election but u don’t want opposition aspirants to campaign in your region but u are doing everything free in other peoples region without intimidation

U want free n fair election but u are ready to bully,blackmail,threaten anybody that is not supporting your candidate

U want free and fair election but u n your likes are ready to kill anyone not voting your candidate in d east

By your words u want free n fair election but by your actions are saying d opposite

Isn’t it funny now that igbos have another propaganda against tinubu by saying a smoker shouldn’t become president

Please what is the crime of a smoker?
Is it a crime to smoke in Nigeria?
When has smoking become a crime in Nigeria?

One day Igbos will wake up n tell us it’s a crime for tinubu to eat

Ok

BATified2023:
u clamor for free n fair election but u don’t want opposition aspirants to campaign in your region but u are doing everything free in other peoples region without intimidation

U want free n fair election but u are ready to bully,blackmail,threaten anybody that is not supporting your candidate

U want free and fair election but u n your likes are ready to kill anyone not voting your candidate in d east

By your words u want free n fair election but by your actions are saying d opposite

Isn’t it funny now that igbos have another propaganda against tinubu by saying a smoker shouldn’t become president

Please what is the crime of a smoker?
Is it a crime to smoke in Nigeria?
When has smoking become a crime in Nigeria?

One day Igbos will wake up n tell us it’s a crime for tinubu to eat

You mean like the ones who sent touts to beat and maim people trying to collect their PVC in a certain location in Lagos?

nelskals:




Atiku is the winter which is coming, Tinubu is the night walker and where do we place Peter Obi?

Peter Obi is Arya Stark. The slayer of the King of Night walkers (tinubu).

BATified2023:
u clamor for free n fair election but u don’t want opposition aspirants to campaign in your region but u are doing everything free in other peoples region without intimidation

U want free n fair election but u are ready to bully,blackmail,threaten anybody that is not supporting your candidate

U want free and fair election but u n your likes are ready to kill anyone not voting your candidate in d east

By your words u want free n fair election but by your actions are saying d opposite

Isn’t it funny now that igbos have another propaganda against tinubu by saying a smoker shouldn’t become president

Please what is the crime of a smoker?
Is it a crime to smoke in Nigeria?
When has smoking become a crime in Nigeria?

One day Igbos will wake up n tell us it’s a crime for tinubu to eat

Your attempts at trying to turn this into a tribal affair has failed woefully. Try another tactic.
We know the group who said people who don't vote their candidate will be thown into the lagoon.
We also know the party of the man who said the streets will be filled with the blood of dogs and baboons if he loses election.
We're voting out the demonic APC party in 2023 and if you don't like it, take the next bus to Chad

APC beware