Chief Charles Nwodo, the National Chairman of the defunct Progressive Action Congress, (PAC), has said that the establishment of an Electoral Offences Tribunal, will help to curb electoral malpractices.
Nwodo made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
“The setting up of the tribunal has become imperative, as it would deter those people who take pleasure in fermenting trouble during elections.
“The mere fact that those who commit offences during elections are not punished, the perpetrators and their sponsors see it as an avenue to do whatever they like.
“Those who find it as good business, should desist from such, in order for the nation’s democracy to thrive,” Nwodo said.
Nwodo said that the tribunal, if set up, would also put an end to the era of “lingering litigations”.
Nwodo urged the Federal Government to give the call for the setting up of the tribunal its `total support’ so that it would see the light of the day.
He also urged the National Assembly to support any action by the executive towards the setting up of the tribunal.
It will be recalled that the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, recently renewed his call for the establishment of the tribunal before the 2015 general elections.
Jega made the call during a debate on ethics and elections organised by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Abuja.
He said that the tribunal would be saddled with the responsibility of arrest, investigation and prosecution of offenders.
Jega said that in the 2011 general elections, the commission detected 870,000 cases of multiple registrations out of the 73.5 million voters registered.
He, however, expressed regrets that only 270 offenders had been prosecuted by the body till date.
