Ekiti vote-buying: SERAP sues INEC over failure to prosecute suspects

A non-governmental organisation, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), has dragged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to court over the Commission’s alleged failure to try those alleged to have been involved in vote-buying during the July 14, 2018 governorship election in Ekiti State. The two major political parties in the country, the All […]

A non-governmental organisation, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), has dragged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to court over the Commission’s alleged failure to try those alleged to have been involved in vote-buying during the July 14, 2018 governorship election in Ekiti State.
The two major political parties in the country, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), were alleged to have participated actively in vote-buying during the election.
In the suit SERAP filed last Friday at the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos, it is seeking an order for leave to apply for judicial review and to seek an order of mandamus compelling INEC and its Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, to instruct security agencies to forward to it reports of their investigations into allegations of vote-buying during the governorship election in Ekiti State.
The INEC last week said that while it had powers to prosecute suspected vote buyers, it lacked the powers to arrest and investigate suspects accused of vote-buying.
SERAP is also seeking an order compelling INEC and its Chairman to prosecute anyone suspected to be involved and/or complicit in acts of vote-buying during the elections in Anambra, Edo and Ondo states.
The suit, filed on behalf of SERAP by its counsel, Timothy Adewale, argued that INEC had no reason whatsoever not to comply with SERAP’s request, “as the Commission has constitutional and statutory responsibilities to prosecute bribery and undue influence in the context of elections and other electoral offences.”
No date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit.