The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, has once again called for the establishment of an electoral offences tribunal before the 2015 general elections.
The INEC boss made the call during a debate on ethics and elections organised by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation on last night in Abuja.
He argued that the tribunal if established would greatly address the challenges facing the electoral process in the nation.
Jega said: “I was privileged to serve in the Justice Muhammad Lawal Uwais-led Committee and I know we made a recommendation for the establishment of a tribunal to deal with the impunity in the way electoral offences are being committed in Nigeria.
“We need to do something unique and that is to establish an electoral offences tribunal which will be saddled with the responsibility of arresting, investigating and prosecuting offenders”
He revealed that in the 2011 general elections, the commission detected 870,000 cases of multiple registrations out of the 73.5 million voters registered. He however, expressed regrets that only 270 offenders had been prosecuted by the body till date.
