The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has disclosed the reason those arrested for vote-buying during the recent Anambra governorship election have not been arraigned.
Speaking on Thursday at a stakeholders’ forum on elections organised by the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room in Abuja, INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, SAN, explained that although the Commission is legally empowered to prosecute electoral offenders, it cannot proceed without investigation reports from the security agencies that carried out the arrests.
According to him, the delay is due to the fact that agencies such as the Nigeria Police and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have yet to forward their findings.
“I am happy to know that you are aware that some people were arrested, and people are asking what we have done,” he said. “We are reaching out to the police, to EFCC, and to all other agencies. We need the investigation reports for those arrested.
“INEC has the power to prosecute, not to arrest. We don’t have that capacity for now. We are liaising with the law-enforcement agencies to ensure that those arrested will have their day in court.”
Prof. Amupitan stressed that safeguarding democracy requires combining technological integrity with political accountability.
He also identified poor telecommunication networks as INEC’s biggest challenge in achieving seamless real-time transmission of election results from the country’s 176,000 polling units, many of which are located in hard-to-reach areas.
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