Absenteeism: INEC To Conduct Bye-Election In State Constituency

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday said it received notification from a state House of Assembly of a vacancy in the house due to prolonged absenteeism by a member.

The INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu who disclosed this at the first quarterly meeting in 2025 with media executives said it was in violation of Section 109(1)[f] of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).

He however did not disclose the affected constituency but added that the commission would soon conduct a bye-election to fill the vacancy.

The INEC Chairman decried the increasing number of bye-elections to be conducted by the commission, stating that “In the last three weeks alone, vacancies have occurred in one federal constituency and two state constituencies caused by the death of serving members.”

Prof. Yakubu also disclosed that INEC is facing the challenges of prosecuting electoral offenders, noting that it took the commission six years to successfully prosecute an electoral offender.

“A major obstacle to the speedy dispensation of justice in this regard is that electoral offences are not time-bound as is the case with post-election offences through the tribunals.

“Furthermore, they are solely prosecuted by the magistrate and state High Courts in the jurisdiction where the alleged offences are committed.

“No priority attention is given to such cases as the courts deal with a variety of other cases.

“Consequently, electoral offences are carried over from one general election to another which may sometimes affect the diligent prosecution of the cases,” he regretted.

The INEC therefore renewed the call for the creation of the Electoral Offences Tribunal with specific jurisdiction and a limited timeframe for the speedy dispensation of cases, praised the collaboration between INEC and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in the prosecution of cases involving 774 alleged offenders from the 2023 general election.

“So far, successful prosecutions have been recorded in Kebbi and Kogi States while our collaboration with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on vote-buying has yielded similar results in Lagos, Kwara and Gombe States. Yet, many cases are still pending,” he disclosed.

National President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Comrade Hassan Yahaya, who was represented by the National Secretary Comrade Chudi Achike, blamed the rising cases of electoral offences on the delay in prosecuting the offenders.

He supported the establishment of an electoral offences tribunal for the speedy prosecution of electoral offenders.