OSBC Osun State Broadcasting Corporation
National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu has said the Commission has secured about 60 conviction for electoral offenders since the 2015 general elections.
He said the 60 convictions were obtained from the over 125 cases filed by the Commission against electoral offenders since 2015, while lamenting that the the commission was over burdened by current responsibilities.
Speaking at a one-day public hearing on a bill for an act to establish the Electoral Offences Commission, the INEC boss said apart from the Commission which will reduce the burden in INEC, there should be an Electoral Offences Tribunal which will be saddled with the responsibility of prosecuting offenders as the courts in the country are over stressed.
He however opposed some of the clauses in the bill which empower the Attorney General of the Federation to make laws for the Commission, saying allowing the provision will erode the independence of the Commission which is supposed to be an independent entity.
He said the public hearing was coming about four months after a similar public hearing on the same Bill by the Senate Committee on INEC held on 28th April 2022.
Yakubu said this is the closest the nation has come to the passage of the long overdue National Electoral Offences Commission Bill into law and expressed the hope that 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.
