THE Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, should summon courage, ward off pressure and prosecute violators of double nomination as provided for in Section 115(D) of the Electoral Act.

The Act provides that no person shall obtain or sign more than one form as a candidate for different elections. It means that all those who bought forms and contested for the presidency earlier this year and returned to their states to vie for other elective seats are law-breakers and should be prosecuted.

Those involved or have been found outrightly culpable in this regard are in both the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. One of them sponsored a placeholder to vie for the governorships while he went for the presidential ticket of his party. When he failed, he retrieved the governorship ticket from his proxy. 

There was also a presidential aspirant  that picked up the nomination and expression of interest forms in his party, only for him to lose and return to his constituency, seeking to retrieve the senatorial nomination from another party member that contested and won in a primary he didn’t partake in.

Others are in court battling to be allowed to contest for the Senate after failing in their presidential bids.

Political greed is a major evidence of the decadence of our renascent democracy. Because politics has become the most lucrative source of wealth, those who find themselves in juicy political positions in the Legislature and Executive never want to leave. When they exhaust their maximum terms in one arm of government they shift to the next available, most lucrative one.

Political greed also manifests in godfatherism through which an influential politician gets stupendously rich by maintaining his political henchmen in office. Some departing governors also collude with the state assembly members to package sumptuous “pension” benefits that will keep them opulently maintained for life after office.

Section 115(D) of the Electoral Act is designed to minimise political greed by ensuring that no politician is allowed to vie for two offices in any single electoral season. It is patently fraudulent to sponsor a proxy for another office while running for an office. Anyone who runs for an office should go and rest if he or she fails to be nominated.

It is only in Nigeria that people perpetrate this political fraud and get away with it. This is one more reason Nigerian politics is seen as a criminal enterprise.

We call on INEC not to allow these violators to escape with mere disqualifications. That would be a mere slap on the wrist. They should be prosecuted, and if found guilty, they should pay the appropriate penalty, which is a two-year jail term. It will stop this crime. Those with immunity should be prosecuted after office.

INEC should honour the Electoral Act by arraigning these violators.