The new head of Nigeria’s electoral agency has threatened to prosecute all of its officials who engage in electoral malpractices in next year’s poll, a national newspaper reported on Sunday.
“We will make sure really anybody who breaches the (electoral) regulation and comit misconduct will be appropriately penalised,” Attahiru Jega said in an interview published by influential ThisDay newspaper.
Oil-producing Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country with 150 million people, has a history of electoral fraud and violence. It is also ranked as one of the most corrupt countries in the world.
The opposition, rights groups and foreign observers criticised the April 2007 election as falling below international standards.
In the past, allegations of collusion of officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were neither investigated nor were suspects punished.
“We wil make sure that this time around, we gather required site evidence and once we have evidence to prosecute, I assure you we are going to prosecute people,” said Jega, a former election observer and university political science teacher.
Regard past wrongdoing, Jega said INEC is looking into all outstanding cases of electoral offences with a view to determining their status and deciding which ones need to be prosecuted.
“Our intention is to have a thorough assessment of these cases; where there is a clear evidence of fraud, we will proceed with the prosecution,” said the former human rights activist and university teachers’ union leader.
Last week, Jega, who has promised to deliver free and fair elections next year, told the parliament that his agency needed 74 billion naira (493 million dollars, 378 million euros) before August 11 to enable INEC compile a new voters’ register and for other logistics ahead of the January poll.
INEC hopes to register at least 70 million Nigerians during the exercise, expected to be held between late October and early November this year.