By Ameh Ejekwonyilo
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Wednesday advised the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) to prosecute officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission and the Nigeria Police who were indicted by the election petition tribunals and the Court of Appeal over their ignoble roles in the conduct of the 2015 general elections.
NHRC Acting Executive Secretary, Mrs. Oti Ovrawah, made the call at the public presentation of the second phase of the a�?End Electoral Impunitya�? project report in Abuja.
The commission had in 2016, released a report on the conduct of the 2007 and 2011 general elections, where it indicted former INEC boss, Prof. Maurice Iwu, and the former governors of Edo and Delta states, among others.
Ovrawah said that there were several misconceptions about the project, as reflected in litigations against the commission arising from the report of the first phase.
According to her, a�?we will clarify the methodology and essence of this intervention by the commission as this is necessary in view of the wrong perception that the commission reviewed judgments of courts in the project.
a�?What the commission has done in this study is to extract verbatim, statements used by either the Election Petitions Tribunals or the Court of Appeal in relation to the election petitions before them.
a�?These statements by the courts, where they indict either persons or institutions, were put together by the commission for onward transmission to the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) as well as the Attorneys-General of respective states,a�? she said.
The NHRC boss noted that with the finalisation of the report in the second phase, a follow-up list of indicted persons or institutions would be transmitted to the AGF and the respective state attorneys-general for necessary action.
Prof. Nsongurua Udombana, the Project Chair, emphasised the need for the courts to stand up to their responsibilities in curbing electoral impunity.
He said that this was by referring established cases of crimes committed during elections to the appropriate authorities as enshrined in Section 149 of the Electoral Act, 2010.
In a goodwill message, Abdul Kafarati, the Acting Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, represented by Justice John Tsoho, noted that electoral impunity was against the “tenets of democracy.”
Kafarati said that since elections were a key component of a democracy, all must be done to eschew electoral impunity in order to enjoy a thriving democracy.
He assured that the Federal High Court would play its role sufficiently to ensure that Justice was served to electoral offenders.
Dr. Sarah Jibril, Chairperson, Justice Must Prevail Party and former presidential aspirant, urged politicians to eschew violence and other electoral crimes.
a�?Autonomous morality is willingly policing oneself without being policed by the authorities,a�? she said.
2015 Polls: AGF should prosecute indicted INEC, Police officers – NHRC
