The National Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in charge of Ogun, Osun and Ekiti States, Prof. Lai Olurode, has appealed to the incoming administration of General Muhammadu Buhari to arrest and punish all prominent Nigerians, who committed electoral malpractices during the general elections in the country. Olurode said this at the June 12 Cultural Centre, Kuto, Abeokuta, in his address at the presentation of Certificates of Return to the Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, who was re-elected for a second term, and National Assembly members-elect in the state.
According to him, if such electoral fraudsters had been punished in the past elections, it would have served as a deterrent to others, who might be nursing such warped idea.
He said: “In the past, those who perpetrated electoral fraud, the notable among them, have not been brought to book, that is why it continues.
“I will want the incoming government to make examples of some prominent election fraudsters.
“For us in INEC, we feel frustrated by the harassment, intimidation, maiming and the killings that attended the just concluded general elections in some states.
“We have always canvassed for an Election Offences Commission to deal with election security challenges in Nigeria. The is a need to make examples of big men, who perpetrate electoral crimes.”
He condemned do-or-die politics in the country, adding that political players must work harder to entrench internal democracy in their political parties.
Olurode, while lamenting what he called voter apathy in some states in the South-West, described the number of voters recorded during the last elections as unimpressive. He also noted that some African countries such as Kenya, Zimbabwe and Ghana, had overcome voter apathy compared to Nigeria.
He said: “All stakeholders, including INEC, cannot afford to rest on our oars in aggressive voter education.
“Voter education is needed to combat hate speeches, as well as spur acts of voluntary service in order to bring down the cost of electioneering.”
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