Politics

Nigerian govt, bar association begin prosecution of electoral offenders

Published

2 months ago

March 3, 2024

The Nigerian government, in collaboration with the Nigerian Bar Association, has commenced legal proceedings against a number of electoral body—INEC— employees and political party officials who have been charged with various electoral offences related to the general elections of 2023.

Following the presidential and National Assembly elections on February 25, 2023, Usman Baba, the immediate past Inspector-General of Police, stated that more than 700 individuals had been arrested by the Nigeria Police for breaking electoral laws.

On May 2, 2023, INEC announced that it would prosecute 215 of the 774 people the NPF had detained for a variety of electoral offences during the polls. 196 of the 215 case files that the commission was given involved electoral offences, and the NBA and INEC are handling those cases.

Election offences take many forms in Nigeria, including vote buying, thuggery, and rigging, and they frequently end in violence. From the colonial era through the first republic in 1960 until 1999, when Nigerians began to witness an aborted democratic journey in her electoral history, these offences had remained an albatross in the country’s electoral journeys.

Habeeb Lawal, the National Publicity Secretary of the NBA, informed our correspondent on Friday that 196 suspects, including INEC officials and political party members, were facing charges related to a variety of electoral offences, including vote-buying, possession of weapons, and other offences during the 2023 election.

Lawal mentioned that the Federal Capital Territory, state supreme courts, and magistrate courts were all used for the prosecution.

“The offences range from dereliction of duty, criminal conspiracy and disorderly conduct at election venues, unlawful possession of arms on election day, snatching and destroying of INEC materials, electoral malpractices, unlawful possession of election materials, voter inducement and vote-buying, malicious damage and assault, and electoral violence.

“Some of the suspects are INEC officials, while others are political party members and people without determinable political affiliations.

“The magistrates’ courts and the high courts of the states and the FCT have jurisdiction over electoral offences by virtue of the Electoral Act.

“Therefore, the offences are being prosecuted by our members in these different courts all over the country, as there is hardly anyone state of the federation that the prosecution is not ongoing.”

The commission through the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi declared that it would not support inappropriate behaviour and that those who engage in it in the future would be held responsible.

Oyekanmi said, “By engaging in the commendable collaboration with the Nigerian Bar Association to jointly prosecute electoral offenders, the Independent National Electoral Commission is reinforcing its resolve not to condone bad behaviour.

Related Topics:Elections Featured INEC Nigeria

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Politics

Mozambique: Ruling FRELIMO announces Chapo as presidential candidate

Published

1 day ago

May 7, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Daniel Chapo has announced that he will run for president in the October election on behalf of the ruling FRELIMO party in Mozambique.

Since achieving independence in 1975, FRELIMO has ruled the nation in southern Africa, and the party is hoping that Chapo can lead it to another win in the election on October 9.

“The soap opera of speculation is over, including speculation about the third term,” President Filipe Nyusi said on state television on Sunday, dismissing the prospect of contesting elections again.

“We must all unite around comrade Daniel Francisco Chapo, in the demanding march towards electoral victory next October,” Nyusi said.

The president of Mozambique is limited to two terms of five years by the constitution. Nevertheless, following his reelection as party leader in 2022, there had been conjecture in the media that Nyusi may run for a third term.

Chapo, a relatively unknown person in national politics, is the governor of the province of Inhambane in southern Mozambique. As to the party announcement, he secured 225 votes (about 94%) from the central committee of the party.

“We are going to work with all social strata,” Chapo said on television after his win.

Chapo, a former radio host, was born in 1977, making him the first candidate for FRELIMO to be born since the nation gained its independence.

He has served in many governmental capacities, most notably as an administrator of the districts of Nacala and Palma. He also has a master’s degree in development management and a law degree.

Politics

Again, Rwanda denies it attacked displaced persons in DR Congo

Published

4 days ago

May 4, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

For the sixteenth time, Rwanda refuted US charges on Saturday that its troops attacked a camp for internally displaced persons in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), placing the blame instead on militants it claimed were backed by the military of the Congo.

The US State Department released a statement in which it vehemently denounced the incident that claimed at least nine lives on Friday.

There have been persistent accusations against Rwanda of providing support to the armed organizations, which has resulted in diplomatic tensions between the neighbours in East Africa.

Citing the threat that Rwanda’s surface-to-air missile systems posed to civilians, U.N. and other regional peacekeepers, aid workers, and commercial aircraft operating in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the US demanded in February that Rwanda remove its systems and all of its armed forces from the DRC immediately. Rwanda denies providing any assistance to the rebels.

According to the U.S. statement, the M23 rebel group, which Rwanda supports, and the Rwandan Defense Forces (RDF) held the positions from which the attack was launched. The United States is “gravely concerned about the recent RDF and M23 expansion” in eastern Congo.

Speaking on behalf of the Rwandan government, Yolande Makolo refuted claims that the RDF was responsible for the attack, blaming instead rebels backed by the Congolese military.

“The RDF, a professional army, would never attack an IDP (displaced persons). Look to the lawless FDLR and Wazalendo supported by the FARDC (Congolese military) for this kind of atrocity,” she said in a post on X.

Wazalendo is a Christian sect, while the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) is a Hutu organization that was founded by Hutu officials who left Rwanda after planning the 1994 genocide.

Thousands of people from the surrounding areas have fled to Goma in eastern Congo as a result of the M23 rebels’ two-year offensive, which has advanced toward the city in recent months.