{"id":114929,"date":"2024-10-30T18:35:21","date_gmt":"2024-10-30T17:35:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=114929"},"modified":"2024-10-30T18:35:21","modified_gmt":"2024-10-30T17:35:21","slug":"inec-refutes-seraps-allegations-on-electoral-offender-prosecutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/inec-refutes-seraps-allegations-on-electoral-offender-prosecutions\/","title":{"rendered":"INEC refutes SERAP\u2019s allegations on electoral offender prosecutions"},"content":{"rendered":"<div dir=\"auto\">The Independent National Electoral Commission on Wednesday issued a response to allegations from the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project regarding the handling of electoral offences from the 2023 general elections.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur 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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese 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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSERAP 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,\u201d the statement read in part.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>The commission mentioned that the prosecutions include some of its officials, including a Resident Electoral Commissioner currently facing trial in Yola.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFurthermore, 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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese 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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is important to also inform the public that the Commission\u2019s commitment to the prosecution of electoral offenders is not limited to persons outside the Commission.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIndeed, 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,\u201d Olumekun said.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>The commission stated that this collaboration has already led to successful convictions in Kebbi and Kogi states.<\/p>\n<div class=\"yj6qo\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Independent National Electoral Commission on Wednesday issued a response to allegations from the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project regarding the handling of electoral offences from the 2023 general elections.&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - 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