By Dayo Benson,  Assistant Editor, Special Politics
Recent, courts of appeal judgments which have voided mandates of four governors have further confirmed general impression that the worst electoral impurities so far were perpetrated in 2007 poll.

So wide-spread are the general outcries that hate president Umoru Musa Yar‘Adua on assumption of office in 2007 publicly admitted the elections including the one that brought him to power were badly flawed.

It was against this background that the administration set up an electoral returns panel headed by justice Mohammedu Uwais  to review the nation’s electoral process and come up with recommendations.

The panel made some far reaching recommendations that would have postively transformed the whole system if implemented. But federal government white paper on the Uwais report fell short of general expectations . One of the major recommendations was trial of electoral offenders by electoral offences tribunal and application of appropriate sanctions where such offenders are found guilty. Such offences include electoral violence, ballot stuffing, ballot snatching, intimidation of voters  and result falsification etc.

However, lately stakeholders have been advocating sanctions for beneficiaries of electoral fraud and their collaborators. October and November Courts of Appeal judgements in Ilorin and Ibadan respectively which sacked Engr. Segun Ori of Ekiti state and chief Olagunsoye Oyinlola of Osun state have further strengthened such calls. Penultimate Friday, Court of Appeal Division declared Engr. Rauf Aregbesola winner of 2007 governorship election in Osun.

The judgment came three and half years after Oyinlola had illegally occupied the office. Earlier, October 15 precisely, Dr Kayode Fayemi had reclaimed his mandate from Oni courtesy court of Appeal Ilorins judgement. Like Aregbesola’s case,  Oni had sat on a illegitimate mandate for three years  and five months.

In ondo and Edo states,  both Governors Olusegun Mimiko and Adams Oshiomole had also won their mandates back last year through appeal court judgements. While Mimiko assumed office February last year, Oshiomole stepped in November same year.

In the case of Ekiti and Osun, analysts have argued that the two illegal occupants of governor’s office should be made to refund whatever they have earned inform of salaries and allowances , as it would be difficult to recover all financial dealings that the state had been committed to while they were in office. Speaking on the issue Prof. Akin Oyebode of faculty of law, university of Lagos said “we cannot say they  should disgorge all the food they ate while in office, but they should be made to refund all the salaries and allowances they were paid while in office.

“He added that the usurper should be tried if possible and jailed to serve as deterrent to others. Also speaking along the same line, Mr Yinka Odumakin of Save Nigeria Group  advocated punishment for those who have to occupy elective offices illegally. “ I think they should be tried and punished by Electoral Offences Commission as recommended by Uwais panel” he said.

Curiously that was one of the aspect of the Uwais report which did not interest the federal government. The only clear provision of the law against electoral offenders is section 150 of the electoral Act. According to the section .

(1)An offence committed under this Act shall be triable in a magistrate court or a high court of the state in which the offence is committed, or the Federal Capital Territory,  Abuja.

(2)A prosecution under this Act shall be undertaken by legal Officers of the Commission or any Legal Practitioner appointed by it.

Independent National Electoral Commission INEC has also express concern over the issue.
The commission, which spoke of the need to severely punish electoral offenders to serve as a deterrent to others, asked the National Assembly to enact a law for the establishment of an Electoral Offences Tribunal (EOT).

The Commission’s chairman  Professor Atthairu Jega, had on assumption of office  said that there will be no ‘sacred cows’ in the conduct of the 2011 general election and vowed to prosecute all electoral offenders.

He said: “It is true that part of our problems in this country is the way in which people do things with impunity and that impunity arises from the confidence that people can do things and get away with it without punishment.

“We, as a new independent electoral commission, have resolved that anybody who commits any crime in the electoral process, be it during registration or during actual election, once we have evidence, we will ensure that such a person is prosecuted and we will deploy all the strategies possible for close collaboration and cooperation with security agencies so that we can gather the evidence that will enable us to prosecute successfully.

“For the first time this is a major challenge and we intend to do that, in fact as I speak with you, we have begun the process of review and analysis of the pending cases of electoral offences arising from the 2007 elections and the subsequent bye_elections and all those that we have evidence that can be prosecuted, we will also prosecute,” Jega stated.

He added, “I want to assure Nigerians that for the first time we will do our best to ensure that people don’t do things and just get away with it. Whoever wants to violate laws should also be prepared to answer the punishment that goes with the violation of the laws. That I can assure you on behalf of the commission.”

Also speaking on the need to have a special court for electoral offenders Jega said “The regular courts have been said to be handicapped by tardy bureaucracy in speedily dispensing justice on electoral offenders.

No doubt, the apathetic posture of many Nigerians to politicking, currently, is attributable to the ease with which political thugs and their sponsors hijack and bastardize the electoral process, and yet escape sanctions.

This has encouraged a repeat performance of the electoral malfeasance at every turn, thereby halting the nation’s quick progress to being adjudged as having a healthy democratic culture.

Despite the posturing of past governments on the need to arrest the menace of electoral offences, nothing much was done; perhaps, due to the reasoning that most candidates and parties, including the ruling party, are equally guilty. This time, the National Assembly should expedite enactment of the law, in view of the general elections coming up in a few months. The lawmakers must not be seen as obstructing efforts at sanitizing the electoral system.

To make the difference from regular courts, the proposed tribunal should have a clear mandate, be well funded and provided with logistics to quickly dispense justice

Expressing a similar view Prof Osage SAN said “So many elections have been nullified by the court. But, so far, not a single person has been persecuted. It shows lack of will on the part of INEC which has the role in the electoral act to prosecute electoral offenders,” he said, stressing that the inability of the relevant authorities to prosecute electoral thieves could be described as a conspiracy to allow electoral thieves and robbers get away with their offences.

He stated that with the determination of the court now, and that of the INEC chairman’s commitment to conduct credible elections, no rigger would get away with electoral frauds again. “With what the court is doing now, those who are perpetrating the fraud will now know that the game is over, that the only way they can get elected is to win the majority of the votes.”

However Lagos lawyer Mr Bamidele Aturu, is of the view that there is no enable law at the moment to persecute electoral offenses and their beneficiaries. according to him “There is no law that provides for punishment of beneficiaries of electoral fraud at the moment. beside, it will be difficult to trace such beneficiaries to the electoral fraud. so what those who are clamoring for punishment for electoral offenders are saying is that our law should be reformed to accommodate such provision.”