Electoral Offences Tribunal Will Mitigate Electoral Offences-INEC Chairman Insists
…Charges Media to Support the Call for Tribunal
By Raphael Ekpang
Abuja (Core Reporters) As part of ways to mitigate electoral offences and help in the general good of the nation’s democracy, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has called on media organisations to support the call for the creation of the Electoral Offences Tribunal.
The Commission’s Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu made the call during its 2025 first quarterly consultative meeting with media organisations at the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja on Friday
Prof. Yakubu noted that they have seen the need to renew the call for the Electoral Offences Tribunal, therefore, urged the media to join in this patriotic advocacy for the good of the nation’s democracy.
He explained that the Electoral Offences Tribunal would have a specific jurisdiction and limited timeframe for the speedy dispensation of cases.
He added that one of the key reforms in the electoral process is the prosecution of electoral offenders. Adding that Judicial and legislative action in the last few days underscore the Commission’s effort to deal with offences involving officials of the Commission assigned to carry out designated responsibilities.
He emphasized on the recent successful prosecution of a Returning Officer in Akwa Ibom State, saying that the Commission has been diligently pursuing the case which arose from the 2019 General Election.
According to the INEC. “The Commission has been diligently pursuing the case which arose from the 2019 General Election. In this particular case, it took nearly six years to achieve the successful prosecution at the trial court. Through our collaboration with the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) cases involving 774 alleged offenders from the 2023 General Election are being prosecuted.
“So far, successful prosecutions have been recorded in Kebbi and Kogi States while our collaboration with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on vote-buying has yielded similar results in Lagos, Kwara and Gombe States. Yet, many cases are still pending”.
He however lamented that a major obstacle to the speedy dispensation of justice in this regard is that electoral offences are not time-bound as is the case with post-election offences through the tribunals, adding that they are solely prosecuted by the Magistrate and State High Courts in the jurisdiction where the alleged offences are committed.
INEC boss said no priority attention is given to such cases as the courts deal with a variety of other cases, “consequently, electoral offences are carried over from one General Election to another which may sometimes affect the diligent prosecution of the cases”.
On the need for the media to support the call for Electoral Offenders Tribunal he said, “For our part, I would like to assure you that our partnership with the Union in particular, and the media as a critical stakeholder in the electoral process in general, will be sustained in the best interest of our electoral democracy as has been demonstrated time and again.
“You may recall that 114 accredited media organisations deployed 721 personnel to cover the recent off-cycle Governorship Election in Edo State while 112 organisations deployed over 700 staff for the Ondo State Governorship Election. We look forward to the same partnership and support in all our forthcoming elections and electoral activities,” he said.
