The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has commenced review of draft of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, top of which is the proposed stiffer sanctions for election offenders.
INEC Chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu said this in Lagos Monday at a retreat on the review of the electoral legal framework.
Yakubu stated that in 2019, the commission received the draft of the Bill from the Senate Committee on INEC which was earlier presented to the executive for assent before the 2019 general elections.
He said: “In turn, the Commission shared the draft Bill internally with the National Commissioners, the Directors, the Resident Electoral Commissioners (REC) and senior officials in the 36 states and the FCT.
“Listening to Nigerians, it is clear that a review of the Electoral Act and our electoral legal framework in general, must be anchored on curbing incidents of violence and sundry malpractices in the electoral process.
“It is also to ensure that violators of electoral laws are effectively sanctioned. It must deepen the deployment of technology in elections.
“It will also ensure inclusivity in the electoral process for marginalised segments of the society such as women, youths and persons living with disabilities.”
Speaking on security, the INEC boss said the Amendment Bill elaborately provided an extensive provision for security of lives and property during elections, saying it would also ensure violators of electoral laws would face stiff penalties.
Yakubu said: “As long as violators of electoral laws are not penalised, we will continue to have issues with our elections. As part of the reforms of the key components of the Electoral Act, we will like to see the effective sanctions of those who violate electoral laws of this country.
“Any country that does not penalise offenders is doomed and we must find a way of penalising electoral offenders so that impunity can be at best reduced or even eliminated completely.”
In her remarks, INEC Director of Legal Services Mrs. Oluwatoyin Babalola, said the retreat would serve as the final stage in the commission’s efforts at harvesting proposals for amendments to the Electoral Act 2010.
“The objective of the retreat is to provoke discussions to strengthen the processes and procedures for voter registration, the use of technology in elections, registration and regulation of political parties and election dispute adjudication.
“The expectations of this retreat are the harmonisation of all the proposals for amendment to the Electoral Act 2010 for presentation to the National Assembly,” Babalola said.
Welcoming participants to the retreat, Lagos state Resident Electoral Commissioner Sam Olumekun said the state had 6.5million registered voters, 8,462 polling units and 4,961 voting points during the last general elections.
He said: “In the last general elections, we recorded 17 court cases made up of two governorship petitions, two senatorial cases, 11 House of Representatives and two House of Assembly cases. There is the need to have special courts for electoral offences.
“The establishment of special electoral offences courts with defined time frame for prosecution will ensure speedy administration of justice. In Lagos, we had a matter that lasted for eight years.”