Identify, Arrest Sponsors Of Electoral Offences In Bayelsa, Kogi, Imo – Group Tells INEC

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to promptly establish a joint, credible, transparent, effective, and broad-based investigation into allegations of electoral bribery and violence in the off-cycle governorship elections in Kogi, Imo and Bayelsa states.

It urged Yakubu to “identify, arrest, name and shame suspected perpetrators and their sponsors of these grave human rights crimes, and ensure their effective prosecution, regardless of their political status or affiliations.”

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The organization also urged him to “disclose the spending details on the governorship elections in Kogi, Imo and Bayelsa states, including the specific amount spent to conduct voter and civic education and activities carried out in these states.”

In the letter dated 11 Nov. and signed by SERAP deputy director, Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation said: “If INEC is to live up to its constitutional and statutory responsibilities, it must take bold and effective measures to combat the culture of impunity for electoral bribery and violence in the country.”

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It added, “The recurring cases of electoral bribery and violence make a mockery of Nigeria’s electoral process and participatory democracy.”