The Chairman of the Labour Party in Enugu State, Barr Casmir Agbo, Wednesday, expressed worry over lack of diligent prosecution of electoral offenders in Nigeria.

According to him, the fact that offenders go scot-free after committing electoral fraud portends danger to Nigeria’s democracy.

Barr Agbo told THE WHISTLER in Enugu that, “Your worries are my worries also. The last time we had a stakeholders’ meeting with the INEC federal commissioner who came to Enugu, I raised the same issue. I demanded to know why people who commit electoral violence and malpractices do not face prosecution. They move freely. The man said their hands were tied; that they are not police; that there is nothing they can do because they don’t have their own police. I told him ‘no’, INEC is the complainant. If they don’t prosecute the matter, we won’t get there.

“Again, it is a state offence. The police should take it over and prosecute the matter. The man then said if they had their own police, it would have been much easier. I told him INEC can’t have their own police. It means all the institutions will have their own police.”

On what it portends to the Nigerian democracy, Agbo said, “What it portends is what it is portending now. We are all in a dilemma. People are preparing for a showdown in the next election because they have seen that anything goes. It is a kind of policy by stakeholders. Once you rig elections, the loser should go to court. People are gearing up to rig themselves in.

“We have seen what happens in Nigeria. The glitch they are talking about is just because somebody was winning and they didn’t want the person to win. In Enugu State, it happened to my party.”

On whether the National Assembly could salvage the situation through legislation, Agbo said, “My worry is that these are beneficiaries of the same illegality. We have enough laws to deal with these: Electoral Offences Law, Criminal Code, Penal Code, and our constitution. The issue is the political will to deal with it. Here in Enugu, somebody carried ballot papers and thumb printed them for the ruling party, and you think you can prosecute the person, no way. It is the same everywhere. What they are gearing up is to rig and ask you to report to the police.”