2023: INEC lacks 'mechanism' to monitor election financing - Lawyer
Human rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, has called for the creation of an electoral offenses commission to remove some responsibilities from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Mr. Effiong said this Thursday during a guest appearance on Focus Nigeria, an independent African television show.
The Electoral Commission has secured notable convictions in voter fraud cases in Akwa Ibom State, south-south Nigeria.
INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu has repeatedly admitted that “the country’s electoral process will remain incomplete if election offenders continue to roam free.”
Mr. Effiong said the INEC was vested with enormous responsibilities, including regulating the activities of political parties, an area in which he said the commission did not do well.
"(Take) campaign finance for example. Where is the capacity and mechanism of INEC to monitor party finance, which is a critical issue? We are witnessing how the All Progressive Congress ( APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in particular have basically dollarized their presidential primaries.
"Where the aspirants threw dollars everywhere, enticing delegates to vote for them, we saw that INEC was unable to quell the excesses of political parties.
"So, for me, I believe we need the Electoral Offenses Commission, as per Justice Mohammed Uwais' report, to regulate and rein in the conduct of political parties."
While the 2022 electoral law set a limit on political party spending in the country, Effiong said INEC had no “mechanism” to ensure parties adhered to that article of the law. law.
For example, Section 88 of the Act sets the maximum expenses of a presidential candidate at N5 billion, while Section 89(1) defines election expenses as expenses incurred from the when INEC issues an election notice.
Mr. Effiong said INEC has no "mechanism" to monitor how political parties and their candidates spend money.
"In recent elections in Osun State where Ademola Adeleke of the PDP won, we all saw people sharing money, engaging in blatant criminality of vote buying. How many people were tried, what steps has INEC taken to ensure that those who used public money to buy and steal votes are punished?
"When you don't punish people for crimes, you create a culture of impunity. So as the 2023 elections approach, what measure is INEC putting in place to ensure that there's no vote buying? So far, I haven't seen anything concrete.
"In the elections in Ekiti and Osun States, INEC proved unable to control the criminality of politicians and the monetization of our elections.
"When INEC says the electoral law says you can't spend over that threshold, how do you go about tackling it, where is the capacity and the mechanism, I have reservations about the credibility of...
Human rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, has called for the creation of an electoral offenses commission to remove some responsibilities from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Mr. Effiong said this Thursday during a guest appearance on Focus Nigeria, an independent African television show.
The Electoral Commission has secured notable convictions in voter fraud cases in Akwa Ibom State, south-south Nigeria.
INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu has repeatedly admitted that “the country’s electoral process will remain incomplete if election offenders continue to roam free.”
Mr. Effiong said the INEC was vested with enormous responsibilities, including regulating the activities of political parties, an area in which he said the commission did not do well.
"(Take) campaign finance for example. Where is the capacity and mechanism of INEC to monitor party finance, which is a critical issue? We are witnessing how the All Progressive Congress ( APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in particular have basically dollarized their presidential primaries.
"Where the aspirants threw dollars everywhere, enticing delegates to vote for them, we saw that INEC was unable to quell the excesses of political parties.
"So, for me, I believe we need the Electoral Offenses Commission, as per Justice Mohammed Uwais' report, to regulate and rein in the conduct of political parties."
While the 2022 electoral law set a limit on political party spending in the country, Effiong said INEC had no “mechanism” to ensure parties adhered to that article of the law. law.
For example, Section 88 of the Act sets the maximum expenses of a presidential candidate at N5 billion, while Section 89(1) defines election expenses as expenses incurred from the when INEC issues an election notice.
Mr. Effiong said INEC has no "mechanism" to monitor how political parties and their candidates spend money.
"In recent elections in Osun State where Ademola Adeleke of the PDP won, we all saw people sharing money, engaging in blatant criminality of vote buying. How many people were tried, what steps has INEC taken to ensure that those who used public money to buy and steal votes are punished?
"When you don't punish people for crimes, you create a culture of impunity. So as the 2023 elections approach, what measure is INEC putting in place to ensure that there's no vote buying? So far, I haven't seen anything concrete.
"In the elections in Ekiti and Osun States, INEC proved unable to control the criminality of politicians and the monetization of our elections.
"When INEC says the electoral law says you can't spend over that threshold, how do you go about tackling it, where is the capacity and the mechanism, I have reservations about the credibility of...
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