The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has urged the National Assembly to give priority to the establishment of a special commission to handle electoral offences, including people involved in multiple registration.
The Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Mr Kayode Idowu, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on friday in Abuja that this was important as the lawmakers sought further amendment to the 2010 Electoral Act.
Idowu said it had been the position of INEC that serious consideration should be giving to the recommendation that a special commission be set up as it would help the political process.
He said that establishing such special commission would help INEC to concentrate on the conduct of elections and other related functions.
“Don’t forget it is not only Justice Mohammed Uwais’ panel that recommended the establishment of the commission.
“Remember the Sheikh Lemu Panel on Electoral Violence also came up with the same recommendation.
“It appears at a time that the process has commenced. So it will be of help to the political process of the country if that commission materialize.’’
It would be recalled that the commission said that over four million voters were removed from the voters register released for the 2015 general elections due to multiple registration.
“When the 2011 register was processed, there were 4,280,979 multiple registrants apart from the four million. Even in the recent Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercises, we have almost 6,000 multiples,’’ Idowu said.
INEC also stated that it had successfully prosecuted 200 of the 870,000 electoral offenders recorded in the 2011 elections, as it did not have the capacity to successfully prosecute all electoral offenders.
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