Ahead of 2019 general elections, the chairman of Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu, has disclosed that the commission lacks the capacity and resources to prosecute all electoral offenders in Nigeria.
Vanguard reports that Yakubu made this known in Calabar, Cross River state, at the opening ceremony of a two-day training workshop for staff of the commission on legal and police officers’ prosecution of election offences in the country.
The INEC boss, who was represented by his special adviser, Mohammed Kuna, said the preponderance of electoral offences makes it practically impossible for the commission to prosecute all those involved in such acts.
He said: “During the 2011 registration exercise, over 870,000 double registrations took place across the country and only 200 of those cases were prosecuted because the commission lacks the capacity and resources to prosecute all such cases.
“The government has proposed a bill to establish election tribunal, which will handle cases of electoral offences, whether elections are ongoing or not.”
Meanwhile, we had reported that the chairman of the INEC, Mahmood Yakubu, hinted that the body might be forced to suspend the 2019 general election following threats to violence by some politicians in the country.
Yakubu, a professor, stated this in reaction to some disturbing videos of political campaigns in the social media in which some politicians are seen threatening to shed blood.
Yakubu who reportedly spoke when he received briefing from the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Osun state on the progress and the preparedness of the forthcoming governorship election, noted that recent developments and signs in the country’s political landscape calls for greater vigilance.
