By Don Domnic
A suit has been filed by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project(SERAP) against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for “failing to prosecute those suspected of Vote-buying and Electoral bribery during the concluded Ekiti State Governorship elections”.
Cases of vote-buying and electoral bribery were widely reported in several polling units during the election in Ekiti Governorship elections.
The suit was filed in Abuja last Friday at the Federal High Court by SERAP’s lawyers Kolawole Oluwadare and Opeyemi Owolabî in suit no FHC/ABJ/CS/1189/2022.
The suit observes that the” Nigerian Constitution provides in Section 14(1)(C) that the participation by the people in their government shall be ensured in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution”.
Section 145(2) of the Electoral Act provides that ” a prosecution under this Act shall be undertaken by legal practitioner appointed by it”.
A date is yet to be fixed for the hearing of the suit.
By the suit SERAP is arguing that “when political candidates or their sponsors decide to buy the support of the people rather than contest fairly for their votes, there are possibilities that such candidates and their sponsors will show a disregard for democratic rules and a disposition to adopt illegal means becomes inevitable”.
