In the aftermath of the 2023 general elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, the Nigeria Bar Association, NBA ,and the Police have concluded plans to prosecute no fewer than 1, 076 electoral offenders arrested across 35 states during the exercise.
This was as it emerged that about 18 case files involving financial crimes committed during the elections would be handled by INEC and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Also, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, ICPC, it was gathered, has forwarded one case file to INEC with regards to the polls.
While 191 case files have been prepared, a breakdown of the distribution by state showed that Ebonyi has the highest number of cases, 64, involving 216 suspects.
Edo State is second with 22 cases and 80 suspects, while Anambra is third with 12 cases involving 66 suspects.
Similarly, Kaduna which is fourth with 11 cases, has 36 suspects; Adamawa ranks fifth with 10 cases, 17 suspects; while Kano, Rivers and Osun states share the fifth position with nine cases apiece, involving 74, 68 and 47 suspects respectively. Yobe State is at bottom of the table with just one case file implicating two suspects.
The electoral offences committed range from “culpable homicide and unlawful possession of firearms”, “snatching and destroying of INEC items,” “being in possession of offensive weapons”, “Misconduct at polling unit and stealing of election results” among several others.
NBA President, Mr. Yakubu Maikyau, SAN, had during a recent visit to INEC chairman , Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, pledged that his members would provide legal services pro bono for the prosecution of electoral offenders as part of their patriotic duty to their fatherland.