7th October, 2016
The Chairman of the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, CACOL, Debo Adeniran, has called for strict punishment for beneficiaries of electoral fraud, adding that the reason why the menace is on the increase is because perpetrators were never punished.
Adeniran who said this while speaking on the monetisation of electioneering, urged the Independent National Electoral Commission to implement the provisions of its law by ensuring that the cost of electioneering is strictly monitored and any political party or individual that refuses to abide by it should be adequately sectioned.
His words: “There should be punishment for beneficiaries of electoral fraud. The reason why they continue to perpetrate electoral fraud is because they were never unpunished. The sanctions may not necessarily be capital, but if anybody dies in the wake of electoral malpractices, then the offenders should go to jail.
“If nobody dies and no damage was caused to life and property, then the offenders should be banned from participating in politics-depending on the gravity of their offence. Offenders should get
imprisonment ranging from eight years to life sentences.
“For those who got into power by rigging elections, like those governors that spent three years before they were found out to have committed electoral crimes, once the court finds them guilty, they should be banned for life and every kobo that they have collected, directly or indirectly, should be refunded.”
The CACOL Chairman added that a review of their activities while in power must be carried out and the wrong policies and appointments they carried out while in office should be reversed.
“The principal beneficiaries of such electoral frauds should either go to jail or be banned for life from contesting elections,” he said.