He noted that electoral misconduct should not be restricted to the disruption of the electoral process on the election days
Femi Falana, a human rights activist and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has called for the prosecution of clerics who collect money from candidates running for elective offices in order to pray for them.
The legal luminary said this at a public presentation in Abuja on Tuesday.
He noted that electoral misconduct should not be restricted to the disruption of the electoral process on the election days
According to the lawyer, by virtue of Section 124 of the Electoral Act 2010(as amended), any form of inducement is a criminal offence.
He, however, noted that since 1999, nobody had been prosecuted for inducement of voters, “yet we witness inducements during our elections”.
Falana said: "In the case of Falae and Obasanjo, which was decided in 1999, the Court of Appeal held that even though there was evidence that money, bags of rice and salt were distributed by the PDP — that was the allegation — the court said, ‘yes, but there is no evidence or proof that the beneficiary of the inducements, General Olusegun Obasanjo, directed the party to distribute or give out any form of gifts for the election'.
"Since then, it has been difficult to prove that the beneficiaries of inducements directly gave instructions to their parties or their agents to distribute money, rice, salt or whatever.
"We have left out those who are spending money on campaigns beyond the stipulation of the Electoral Act; people or parties offering money to defect; money spent on media to manipulate stories and make phony projections; pastors and mallams to pray for candidates to win elections; unemployed people attending rallies; thugs to attack political opponents and disrupt rallies and elections.
"If we really want to challenge the violation of the Electoral Act via the monetisation of elections, we have to go beyond those who are likely to be arrested on election day.
"With the cooperation of the Police and other security agencies, it is easy to arrest those who distribute money during elctions.”