Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmoud Yakubu has called for the establishment of the Electoral Offences Commission or tribunal to try electoral offenders.
Mahoud said until that is put in place, the country will continue to record violence during elections in the country. The INEC boss, during an interactive session organised by Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre, PLAC, also warned against hate speech during electioneering campaigns. He said, “One of the issues we’ve had to deal with in the recent election is the issue of violence. As long as electoral offenders are not punished, we will continue to be faced with electoral violence. We need electoral offences commission or tribunal to deal with electoral offenders. “Democracy can only thrive where you have democrats and not office seekers. INEC will monitor hate speech during election campaigns and we will also work with the National Human rights Commission to look into issues of hate speech”.

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