Rotimi Oyekanmi, Chief Press Secretary to Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has backed the commission’s push to establish an Electoral Offences Commission, for the purpose of investigating and prosecuting electoral offences.
INEC and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on Tuesday differed on the quest by the House of Representatives for a National Electoral Offences Commission.While INEC supported the parliament to establish the body, the anti-graft agency kicked against it, saying the functions of the pproposed commission are performed by existing institutions.
Speaking on Wednesday when he appeared as a guest on Daily Trust’s Twitter Spaces themed: ‘2023: INEC and Handling of Election Results’, Oyekanmi said the commission would run independently.He said:
“The EFCC is a creation of the law. There were high courts, both at the state and federal levels. Do those high courts address financial crimes? No. That was why anti-corruption agencies like the ICPC or EFCC had to be created. So, if the existing law before the ICPC and EFCC were created, were working perfectly, there would have been no need for the creation of the anti-corruption agencies.“So, the system as we have it now, looking at the number of people that were killed and maimed and life destroyed and nobody has been held accountable, we need that electoral offences commission so that we can take people (offenders) specifically there.
“What we are saying is that there has to be a commission that will be independent and would have its own power to arrest, investigate, prosecute and apply sanctions on those who send thugs out to disrupt elections, kill people and then nothing happens to them.”
