INEC to Nigerians: Support electoral reforms 

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has renewed its call for the creation of an Electoral Offences Tribunal, appealing to Nigerians to support the critical areas of electoral reforms.

The Commission said such a tribunal should have a specific jurisdiction and limited timeframe for the speedy dispensation of cases, and urged the media to join in the patriotic advocacy for the good of the country’s electoral democracy.

The Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, who made the appeal Friday at the first quarterly meeting with media executives in Abuja, said “one of these areas of reform is the prosecution of electoral offenders.” 

He said, “Judicial and legislative action in the last few days underscore our effort to deal with offences involving officials of the Commission assigned to carry out designated responsibilities.”

The INEC chairman, however, said, “It also highlights the challenges we face in dealing with electoral offences. The recent successful prosecution of a Returning Officer in Akwa Ibom state is a case in point. 

“The Commission has been diligently pursuing the case which arose from the 2019 General Election. In this particular case, it took nearly six years to achieve the successful prosecution at the trial court. 

“Through our collaboration with the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) cases involving 774 alleged offenders from the 2023 General Election are being prosecuted. 

“So far, successful prosecutions have been recorded in Kebbi and Kogi states while our collaboration with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on vote-buying has yielded similar results in Lagos, Kwara and Gombe states.” 

Pending cases

He, however, stated that many cases were still pending. 

The INEC chair said, “A major obstacle to the speedy dispensation of justice in this regard is that electoral offences are not time-bound as is the case with post-election offences through the tribunals. 

“Furthermore, they are solely prosecuted by the Magistrate and State High Courts in the jurisdiction where the alleged offences are committed. 

“No priority attention is given to such cases as the courts deal with a variety of other cases. Consequently, electoral offences are carried over from one General Election to another which may sometimes affect the diligent prosecution of the cases. 

“It is, therefore, imperative to renew our call for the creation of the Electoral Offences Tribunal that has a specific jurisdiction and limited timeframe for the speedy dispensation of cases. I urge the media to join in this patriotic advocacy for the good of our electoral democracy.”

Collaboration with media

The INEC chairman, who assured of continuous partnership with the Nigeria Union of Journalists and the media in general as a critical stakeholder in the electoral process, recalled that 114 accredited media organisations deployed 721 personnel to cover the recent off-cycle governorship election in Edo state, while 112 organisations deployed over 700 staff for the Ondo state governorship election. 

He said the Commission also looked forward to the same partnership and support in all forthcoming elections and electoral activities.

He also said the Commission had released the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the Anambra state governorship election to be held on November 8, 2025, disclosing that party primaries “begin next month.”

On the Anambra election, he said, “Political parties interested in fielding candidates for the election shall commence their primaries on 20th March 2025 and end three weeks later on April 10, 2025. 

“At the appropriate time, the Commission will release the details for interested media organisations to apply for accreditation through the online portal which all of you are now familiar with. 

“The Commission’s preparations for the election are on the agenda for this meeting.  Meanwhile, hardcopies of the Timetable and Schedule of Activities are included in your folders for this meeting. The softcopy has been uploaded to our website.

“Similarly, the Commission has released the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the Area Council election in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) will be held on February 21, 2026. 

“However, most of the major activities for the election will be held this year, including party primaries and the nomination of candidates for the 68 constituencies made up of six Area Council Chairmen and 62 Councillors scheduled to be held from June 9-30, 2025. Our preparations for the election are on the agenda for this meeting.  

End-of tenure polls

“In addition to the end-of-tenure elections, there are increasing numbers of bye-elections to be conducted. In the last three weeks alone, vacancies have occurred in one federal constituency and two state constituencies caused by the death of serving members. 

“In another state constituency, the state Assembly declared the seat vacant as a result of absenteeism, following the prolonged absence of the member from sittings of the House in violation of Section 109(1)[f] of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended). The matter of pending bye-elections is also on the agenda for this meeting.

“I want to re-assure you of our commitment to continuously improve on the electoral process. Every election or electoral activity presents its own unique challenge and an opportunity to learn lessons for improvement.”