The plan by the police high command to commence the prosecution of 781 electoral offenders nabbed during the 2023 elections is commendable. Doing so will go a long way in sanitising the nation’s electoral system. It will also reduce violence during elections, especially the forthcoming off-cycle governorship polls in Imo, Bayelsa and Kogi states.
The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Usman Baba, who dropped the hint during a meeting with Commissioners of Police from the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), as well as Assistant Inspectors General of Police in charge of Zonal Commands, said there would be effective collaboration with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure expeditious prosecution of offenders.
The offenders were apprehended from a total of 489 major electoral infractions across the nation. While 203 of the suspects were arrested during the February 25 Presidential and National Assembly elections, 578 others were apprehended during the March 18 Governorship and State Assembly polls. The IGP also condemned the action of political actors who engage in ethnic profiling in advancing their interests.
The move by the police to try the electoral offenders is a step in the right direction. The inability of the police to prosecute past electoral offenders can account for the rise in such infractions during the recent polls. It is regrettable that the 2023 polls witnessed massive rigging, vote buying, voter intimidation and suppression as well as violence despite INEC’s promise to make the 2023 exercise the best in the annals of the country.
In a related development, the Lagos State Police Command has recovered 21 assorted firearms from criminals in mop-up operations across the state during the period covering the elections. According to the State’s Commissioner of Police, Owohunwa Idowu, 54 major incidents were recorded across the 13,325 polling units in the state. He reiterated that 45 suspects were arrested in the two elections. Not less than 2,870 Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs); seven weapons including two firearms; 28 snatched ballot boxes; one BVAS machine and a POS machine deployed for vote buying were recovered in the course of police election security operations from various electoral offenders.
It is sad that Nigeria is prone to election-related violence. An election violence monitoring and mitigation group, the Kimpact Development Initiative (KDI), had in its pre-election environment monitoring survey, reported that ahead of the governorship poll, there had been 482 cases of electoral violence in Nigeria, leading to over 160 deaths from January 1, 2022 to March 17, 2023. In Lagos and some other states, there were incidences of hate speech, ethnic slur against non-indigenes and intimidation of the opposition political parties or voters perceived to be supporting them. In many parts of the state dominated by the so-called non-indigenes, political thugs assaulted voters, destroyed voting materials and disrupted the exercise. The police should ensure that those behind these heinous acts are brought to justice.
Electoral offences include conducts, actions or inactions that run against the smooth conduct of elections. Sections 114 to 129 of the Electoral Act, 2022 provide a list of what constitute the electoral offences in the country. They include offences relating to registration, the nomination of candidates, disorderly behaviour at political meetings, improper use of voter cards, improper use of vehicles, impersonation, voting when not qualified, dereliction of duty by electoral officers or polling agents of political parties, bribery and conspiracy and violation of the requirement for secrecy in voting. The rest are snatching of ballot boxes, tampering with election materials, violence and intimidation of voters.
An electoral offender can be fined or jailed depending on the gravity of the offence. Section 126 (4) of the Electoral Act 2022 prescribes a prison term of 24 months, without option of fine, for any person who tampers with electoral materials or devices. The sentence will deter others from snatching ballot box or committing other electoral offences during electionsDisorderly conduct at elections, which include inciting others to act in a disorderly manner, attracts a fine of N500, 000 or imprisonment for a term of 12 months or both. Threatening a person with violence, or injury to compel that person to vote or refrain from voting, carries a fine of N1, 000,000 or three years imprisonment.
We hope that the IGP and his team will diligently prosecute all the arrested electoral offenders. Let the declaration to do so by the police not be one of those populist pronouncements that are hardly followed up. The conduct of the February 25 and March 18 elections left much to be desired. Prosecuting the electoral offenders is the best way to ensure that those behind the heinous acts do not evade justice. Let the trial be fair and transparent.
