The legislative process for the National Electoral Offences Commission Establishment Bill, 2021 is in progress, with the Senate holding a public hearing on the bill on Wednesday, April 28. The bill is sponsored by Senator Abubakar Kyari and co-sponsored by the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege and Senator Kabiru Gaya. The growing trend of electoral offences has plagued Nigeria\u2019s elections for so long, with several offenders going scot-free. Civil Society groups have made several calls for the establishment of an Electoral Offences Commission to effectively tackle electoral malpractices and bring perpetrators to book. Observers believe that this will reduce the burden on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct elections and deal with other related issues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bill seeks to establish a\nCommission comprising a Chairman, a Secretary, 10 representatives from select\ngovernment ministries and agencies, as well as six other Nigerians representing\neach of the geo-political zones. Interestingly, at least two of these geo-political\nzonal positions are reserved for women. However, the membership of the Commission\nis rather broad and should be downsized to save cost of governance. Also, the\nbill (Clauses 23 and 32) seeks to criminalise smear campaigns against\ncandidates in an election and hate speech intended to prejudice the results of\nan election. Smear campaigns which have become a\nrecurring trend in Nigeria\u2019s elections seem to be taking the place of\nissue-based campaign, and therefore need to be curbed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, certain provisions\nstipulate rather stringent penalties for various classes of offenders and need\nto be reviewed to reflect current realities. Some of these include an\nimprisonment term of 20 years for judicial officers\nor officers of a Court\/Tribunal who pervert justice, and a fine of N30,000,000\nin lieu of an imprisonment term set for election officials and security\npersonnel. On the other hand, some of the\npenalties proposed for erring candidates at an election are inadequate. For\ninstance, for offences relating to election expenses, Clause 31 proposes a\nminimum imprisonment term of six months and a fine amounting to the stipulated maximum\nsum of election expenses for the elective office in question. Election Finance\nis a major component of elections, as high campaign costs constitute a barrier\nto inclusivity in elections. Therefore, offences relating to this subject\nshould have stiffer penalties, to curb excessive expenditure by political\nparties and their candidates. Further, the offence of undue influence contained\nin the bill, should be expanded to include the act of inducing or compelling an\nelection official to act in a certain way, in which he or she would not have\nordinarily acted. This will tackle the emerging incidence of political actors\ncoercing election officials to obtain their desired results, and also protect\nelection officials who find themselves in such a position in the course of\ndischarging their duties. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another proposed\nprovision which ought to be reviewed is Clause 33 (4) of the bill, which requires that a judicial officer\ngives priority to electoral offences over all other matters. This may be\nimpracticable. Instead, a timeframe should be stipulated within which electoral\noffence cases should be heard and concluded. Also, Clause 34 (3) which allows\nthe Commission to accept gifts from persons and organisations, has a high\npotential to raise conflict of interest and interfere with the dispensation of\njustice by the Commission, and should be removed from the bill in its totality.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Generally, the bill\nseems poised to address the incidence of electoral malpractices by providing a\nframework to punish offenders, to serve as a deterrent to potential offenders.\nThis will in turn, contribute towards the much needed electoral reform, aimed\nat deepening democracy in Nigeria. <\/p>\n\n\n\n