By Emma Una

CALABAR — CHAIRMAN of Independent Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, has said the commission lacks the capacity and resources to prosecute all electoral offenders in the country.

He stated this yesterday, in Calabar, Cross River State, at the opening ceremony of a two-day training workshop for staff of the commission on legal and police officers’ prosecution of election offences in the country.

Mahmood, who was represented by his Special Adviser, Professor Mohammed Kuna, said the preponderance of electoral offences makes it practically impossible for the commission to prosecute all those involved in such acts.

He said: “During the 2011 registration exercise, over 870,000 double registrations took place across the country and only 200 of those cases were prosecuted because the commission lacks the capacity and resources to prosecute all such cases.

“The government has proposed a bill to establish election tribunal, which will handle cases of electoral offences, whether elections are ongoing or not.”