Pass Bill to Prosecute Electoral Abuses and End Impunity for Electoral Offenses
14 Mar 2011 14:19 Africa/Lagos Nigeria / Pass Bill to Prosecute Electoral Abuses / End Impunity for Electoral Offenses by Prosecuting Perpetrators ABUJA, March 14, 2011/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- The National Assembly should pass legislation establishing a special Electoral Offences Commission to investigate and prosecute election-related abuses, including violence, Human Rights Watch and the Nigerian Bar Association said today. Nigerian authorities should also set a clear precedent for accountability ahead of elections, planned for April 2011, by prosecuting under current law the perpetrators of recent abuses. Nigeria has a history of violent and deeply flawed elections. At least 300 people were killed in violence linked to the last general elections in 2007, according to Human Rights Watch. Corrupt politicians, in many cases backed by mafia-like “godfathers,” openly mobilized gangs of thugs to terrorize ordinary citizens and political opponents and to stuff or steal ballot ...