February 10, (THEWILL) – As politicians begin to jostle for attention ahead of the 2027 general election, issues surrounding the 2023 polls are still on the front burner. One such issue came up at the first quarterly meeting between the media and the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, last week in Abuja. According to the INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, there are delays in prosecuting electoral offenders for infractions committed during the 2023 general election in Nigeria.
Almost in frustration, Prof Yakubu called for the creation of an Electoral Offences Tribunal, noting that regular courts, burdened with multiple responsibilities, often do not give electoral offences the urgent attention they require.
Yakubu, who highlighted the challenges of the Commission in dealing with electoral offences, said, “The recent successful prosecution of a Returning Officer in Akwa Ibom state is a case in point. The Commission has been diligently pursuing the case which arose from the 2019 General Election”.
On Wednesday, THEWILL reported that a High Court 5 in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, sentenced Prof. Ignatius Uduk to three years of imprisonment for electoral fraud. Uduk, a professor of Human Kinetics at the University of Uyo, was prosecuted by INEC on a three-count charge bordering on perjury and manipulation of election results.
Commenting on the case as an illustration of the delayed justice over election offenders, Yakubu said, “In this particular case, it took nearly six years to achieve the successful prosecution at the trial court”.
However, the INEC Chief also disclosed that through collaboration with the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), cases involving 774 alleged offenders from the 2023 General Election are being prosecuted.
According to him, successful prosecutions have been recorded in Kebbi and Kogi States while INEC’s collaboration with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on vote-buying has yielded similar results in Lagos, Kwara and Gombe States. Yet, many cases are still pending.
Yakubu, however, noted that “a major obstacle to the speedy dispensation of justice in this regard is that electoral offences are not time-bound as is the case with post-election offences through the tribunals.
“Furthermore, they are solely prosecuted by the Magistrate and State High Courts in the jurisdiction where the alleged offences are committed. No priority attention is given to such cases as the courts deal with a variety of other cases.
“Consequently, electoral offences are carried over from one general election to another which may sometimes affect the diligent prosecution of the cases.”
For these reasons, he insisted that it was important to renew our call for the creation of the Electoral Offences Tribunal that has a specific jurisdiction and limited timeframe for the speedy dispensation of cases.
THEWILL recalls that the arrest and prosecution of electoral offenders have been fraught with a lot of challenges. Stakeholders at different forums have debated and canvassed ways out of the challenge.
The problem, they argue, has many strands that need to be addressed frontally. For instance, the Police with the responsibility for the arrest, investigation and giving evidence in Court on electoral matters are sometimes posted out of their State Commands and moved to contiguous states on Election Day.
Former INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, noted in a publication on Prosecution of Electoral Offenders in Nigeria: Challenges and Possibilities, that the posting of police on election day is done to ensure their neutrality.
He said, “Unfortunately, some of the officers on duty on Election Day are posted back to their State Commands after elections making documentation of electoral offences difficult and also making it difficult for credible evidence to be gathered and serious prosecution to be carried out. Most electoral offenders are also not prosecuted because the INEC has less than 100 legal officers serving the headquarters and the 36 State Offices including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and do not have the capacity and resources to prosecute offences committed in 119, 973 polling units, 8, 809 wards, 360 Federal Constituencies, 109 Senatorial Districts and 774 Local Governments in Nigeria,”
According to him, it is more difficult to see how legal officers of the Commission will prosecute thousands of cases of multiple registrations detected by the Commission during the voter registration exercise.
He said, “Because offenders are hardly prosecuted and some get away with impunity on account of their political affiliation, impunity is recycled, people disengage from the electoral process on account of electoral fraud and violence, and the credibility of the electoral process is called into question.”
Seeking the support of the media, Yakubu also provided updates on recent off-cycle Governorship Elections in Edo and Ondo states, the November 2025 Anambra Gubernatorial poll, and the 2026 FCT Area Council election.
He said, “I urge the media to join in this patriotic advocacy for the good of our electoral democracy. You may recall that 114 accredited media organisations deployed 721 personnel to cover the recent off-cycle Governorship Election in Edo State while 112 organisations deployed over 700 staff for the Ondo State Governorship Election. We look forward to the same partnership and support in all our forthcoming elections and electoral activities.”
According to him, this clarion call has become necessary because the Commission has released the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the Anambra State Governorship election to be held on November 8, 2025. Party primaries begin next month.
He said political parties interested in fielding candidates for the election shall commence their primaries on 20th March 2025 and end three weeks later on 10th April 2025. At the appropriate time, the Commission will release the details for interested media organisations to apply for accreditation through the online portal, which all of you are now familiar with.
Similarly, the Commission has released the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the Area Council Election in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to be held on 21st February 2026.
However, most of the major activities for the election will be held this year, including party primaries and the nomination of candidates for the 68 constituencies made up of six Area Council Chairmen and 62 Councillors scheduled to hold from 9th – 30th June 2025.
In addition to the end-of-tenure elections, there is an increasing number of bye-elections to be conducted. In the last three weeks alone, vacancies have occurred in one Federal Constituency and two State Constituencies caused by the death of serving members. In another State Constituency, the State Assembly declared the seat vacant as a result of absenteeism, following the prolonged absence of the member from sittings of the House in violation of Section 109(1)[f] of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended). The matter of pending bye-elections is also on the agenda for this meeting.
“I want to reassure you of our commitment to continuously improve the electoral process. Every election or electoral activity presents its own unique challenge and an opportunity to learn lessons for improvement,” he said, adding that the recent Ondo State Governorship election has been widely acknowledged to be an improvement, especially in the management of logistics and performance of election technology.
“We will strive harder to ensure the continuous improvement of our elections. However, being a multi-stakeholder responsibility, we appeal for the continuous support of all and sundry, especially in critical areas of reform.”
Felix Ifijeh is a journalist with years of professional reporting experience. Known for his keen news sense, compelling storytelling and commitment to accurate, impactful reporting, he has built a reputation for turning leads into clear, engaging, and well-structured reports that resonate with readers. His work reflects deep newsroom experience and a commitment to accurate, impactful journalism.
