Sen. Omo-Agege Explains Rationale Behind National Electoral Offences Commission Bill

Senator representing Delta Central Senatorial District, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege has explained the rationale behind the proposed National Electoral Offences Commission (NEOC) Bill which has passed second reading in the red chambers, saying that President Muhammadu Buhari was interested in the accelerated passage.

The Bills which was co-sponsored by Omo-Agege and Senator Abu Kyari (Borno North), is in seven parts and has 48 clauses.

The lawmaker told BigPen Online that Buhari has interest in the Bill which would curb rigging by political parties in connivance with staff of Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

According to him, besides the Presidential support for the bill, all Senators in the red chambers in respective of their political affiliation are in support that the bill should come on stream before the 2019 general election.

Omo-Agege who co-draft the Bill said the proposed law was borne out of the need to correct the lapses in the electoral Act in which electoral offences are only persecuted after conclusion of cases at the Election Tribunal or Court of Appeal which hitherto recommend trial.

He said that after the 2015 general elections and the attendant issue of legality of the card reader device used by INEC, the Supreme Court urged the Senate to do something about the lapses in the Electoral Act, hence the amendment in the Act and subsequently the NEOC.

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The Senator said that the NEOC would tackle the cases of Electoral malpractices, thuggery and fraud perpetrated by political parties and the electoral umpire as was witnessed in previous elections.

He said the duties of the operatives of the Electoral Offences Commission would include to collate, investigate, arrests and persecute offenders before the regular courts as the EFCC does in the case of financial crimes.

“Now this brings me to second bill which passed second reading few weeks ago. I also wrote that bill. That’s the National Electoral Offences Commission Bill. We created new crimes like I said earlier, beyond those crimes, remember there are existing crimes but who is enforcing them.

“The old Electoral Act says when Electoral crime has been committed it is only after the conclusion of the proceedings at the Tribunal or the Court of Appeal as the case maybe would recommend trial and you know how long that process may be.

“By the time the matter gets to Court of Appeal it is possible the witness may have died, the petitioner may have died or lost interest, the police officer who investigated may have left the area and so on, so we now felt rather than wait endlessly to persecute election offenders, we decided to set up the commission, call it the EFCC of Electoral Crimes if you like because that’s the idea. What exactly the EFCC is doing now in terms of financial crime is what we are seeking to achieve by setting up the National Electoral Offences Commission (NEOC).

He however expressed confidence that the bill would be passed by both chambers of the National Assembly and get concurrence from the state Houses of Assembly.

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“I am sure we would get concurrence in the National Assembly because it is something that affect everybody and I  can tell you Mr. President is equally very interested in it including the earlier one, the Electoral Act.

“In fact, Mr President position is that if they Electoral Act had been passed in 2003 he would have served as his first tenure and retired by now because a combination of both status will led us effectively to one-man-one-vote”.

Asked if Senators from the opposition parties are in tone with the proposed bill, Omo-Agege said the mischief the law seek to addressed affects all Nigerians including APC and PDP members.

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