The Independent National Electoral Commission has said it was waiting for the reports from the Nigeria Police Force and other relevant agencies on arrested electoral offenders at the off-cycle polls.
The off-cycle polls were held on November 11 2023 in Imo, Kogi, and Bayelsa states.
According to assessments by election observers, electoral violence was a sore point in the off-cycle elections.
Apart from targeting INEC officials and attempting to snatch ballot boxes or disrupt election exercises, bullet spraying and vote buying were the commonest vices that found appeal.
A special assistant to the deputy governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress in Bayelsa, Jonah Daumie, was caught with ammunition in the Foibiri area of the state.
When security agents grilled Daumie on camera, he admitted the arms he was wielding were used during election activities in the community.
A similar scene played out in Kogi State. One local government chairman, James Onoja, was arrested by security agents for possession of firearms, ammunition and bundles of cash allegedly meant for vote buying.
Preliminary analysis by the Centre for Democracy and Development noted that security agents were not present at one of the polling units in Yenogoa, Bayelsa State where voting ended abruptly after thugs destroyed election materials.
On December 17, 2023, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project filed a lawsuit against INEC over the failure to arrest and prosecute suspected perpetrators of electoral offences in the concluded off-cycle governorship elections.
However, when asked about the situation report on the arrested electoral offenders during the off-cycle polls, a top official of the commission who spoke to our correspondent on Saturday on the condition of anonymity said “The police or other agencies have not reported to INEC yet.”
Credit Gist New Today News in Newspaper Nigeria Headlines