Youth Party Demands for Autonomous Electoral Offences Commission In Nigeria

The Youth Party has asked the National Assembly to pass an autonomous Electoral Offences Commission Act that will empower the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with the capacity to investigate and coordinate enforcement and prosecution of all electoral offences.

The Youth Party in memorandum to National Assembly – Joint Committee on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Electoral Matters jointly signed by its National Chair, Dr. Umar Muhammad, National Secretary, Helen Adoh, and the National Policy & Strategy, Ayiba Amadu also urged the National Assembly to ensure the independence of the proposed electoral Offences Commission by giving them financial autonomy and removing them from the operational control of the Executive and the Attorney General of the Federation and of the States.

The Party also urged the National Assembly to create specialised electoral offences court with divisions in various states across the federation and are guided by special rules and guidelines that regulate the conduct and timeline of trials.

Besides, the Youth Party seek the following “Employments of new technologies particularly the use of surveillance drones to monitor elections in various polling centres to facilitate real time incident reporting.

“Organize periodic specialized training for security forces to combat electoral violence and clearly delineate their roles during election.

“Disqualifications of Persons facing: Criminal Charges from contesting Election”

The party stated that political offices are public trusts and persons elected to these offices become public trustees, stressing that it is critical that a trustee must be a person of character and integrity to be able to manage whatever the settlor is trusting on to him for the benefit of the beneficiaries.

” It is therefore our belief that for the advancement of common good and to ensure that only persons of integrity and unquestionable character are elected into public offices, there is need to amend the Constitution to disqualify persons who have pending criminal cases against them from vying for public offices.

While the Party conceded that there are many arguments against this, it submitted that the dangers of allowing such persons to run for office are considerable.

The statement argued “For instance, a person under trial for murder of 10 (ten) Nigerians may contest and win election even from the prison as we have witnessed in this country. Upon being elected, he becomes immune from criminal trials by virtue of section 308 of the 1999 Constitution as amended. He is also almost sure of serving a second term. Thus, for eight years, he will not return to the courts to face trial. In addition, a governor is in charge of the Ministry of Justice, which is the prosecutorial authority.

“The Ministry of Justice through the Director of Public Prosecution is expected to prosecute him or her (the governor or president) after his or her tenure of office.

“The danger of tampering with evidence and witnesses is real than imagined. For instance, he is the person that appoints and removes at his own wish the Attorney General that is supposed to prosecute him. The person upon election takes charge of the Police and other Prosecutorial agencies and appoints their heads.

“For instance, a person who is under trial for corruption becomes directly in charge of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, if he is elected President. Furthermore, all the witnesses especially those that are civil servants also comes under his power to hire and fire. With all these considerations, it is apparent that such a person may utilize state powers to frustrate his trial. This is not healthy as it results in persons who are not trustworthy occupying positions of public trust.

” Many may argue that this proposal will constitute a violation of the right to fair hearing and innocence until proven guilty, but the greater and common good of all Nigerians demands that such a persons should not be allowed to vie for public office until they are cleared. The right of such candidates begins and ends where the right of Nigerians to good governance starts.”

Besides, the party added that Pre-election matters relating to eligibility of candidates should be given the same expeditious hearing and status as election petitions. It should be resolved at the high court and at the Court of Appeal being the final Court before the Election.

It argued that Section 66, 107, 131 and 177 of the Constitution should be amended to allow the Court, upon application by INEC or any other person.

Presenting the Party’s position, a representative of the Youth Party, Amador Iba Sunday, said “Our only issue we want to raise is the disqualification of persons facing criminal charges from the arrest.

“We are recommending that such person’s cases need to be done and dealt with before election. We understand that public offices are of public trust, and we are applying, and we are suggesting that section 308 of the constitution is looked into so issues of people with questionable character can be trashed out in the court of law if possible”.