SERAP had claimed on Sunday that INEC had failed to prosecute various electoral offenders, including governors and deputy governors, and had not enlisted independent counsel for other cases of electoral malpractice such as vote-buying.
In a press statement signed by National Commissioner and Chairman of Information and Voter Education, Sam Olumekun, INEC countered these claims, clarifying that governors and deputy governors are protected from prosecution by constitutional immunity and that the commission has no records of any such officials being investigated or charged for election-related offences.
“Our attention has been drawn to media reports attributed to the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project accusing the Commission of failure or neglect in prosecuting electoral offenders arising from the 2023 general election.
“These allegations are untrue and fly in the face of facts already in the public domain. In the first place, governors and deputy governors have constitutional immunity from prosecution.
“SERAP cannot be unaware of this constitutional provision. In any case, the Commission has no record that any of them has been arrested, investigated, or that a prima facie case has been established to initiate their prosecution,” the statement read in part.
INEC confirmed that it received 215 case files from the police, implicating 238 individuals during the presidential and national assembly elections and 536 suspects during the governorship and state assembly elections.
The commission mentioned that the prosecutions include some of its officials, including a Resident Electoral Commissioner currently facing trial in Yola.
“Furthermore, if SERAP had done a basic fact check, it would have known that at the end of the 2023 General Election, the Commission announced that it received 215 case files from the Nigeria Police following the arrest and investigation of alleged violators of the electoral laws across the country.
“These include 52 files involving 238 alleged offenders during the presidential and national assembly elections and 163 files for 536 suspects from the governorship and state assembly elections.
“It is important to also inform the public that the Commission’s commitment to the prosecution of electoral offenders is not limited to persons outside the Commission.
“Indeed, officials of the Commission, some of them highly placed, have been affected, including a Resident Electoral Commissioner currently being prosecuted in a High Court in Yola,” Olumekun said.
In an unprecedented move to ensure effective prosecution, INEC partnered with the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), allowing private lawyers, including Senior Advocates of Nigeria, to represent INEC on a pro bono basis.
The commission stated that this collaboration has already led to successful convictions in Kebbi and Kogi states.