TheCable

OurMumuDonDo, a civil society group, has demanded the arrest and prosecution of Ibrahim Mantu, former deputy senate president, for admitting that he rigged elections.

The group made the demand when its members staged a protest to the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Abuja on Friday.

While being interviewed on a TV programme recently, Mantu had said he helped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to rig elections in the past.

Submitting a protest letter at the INEC office, the group asked the electoral body to expedite action and prosecute Mantu “for subverting the free will of Nigerians”.

It said since the former senator has admitted he committed the crime, INEC should demonstrate its resolve to prosecute electoral offenders “to serve as a deterrent to others.”

It also said the Nigerian youth have become “utterly distrustful of the electoral process” as a result of recurrent electoral malpractices.

“As we are approaching the 2019 general elections, it is crucial that all efforts must be made to sanitise the electoral process and reinforce the hope and trust of the electorates in Nigeria. And this is particularly urgent as the Osun and Ekiti states gubernatorial elections are fast drawing near,” the group said.

While addressing journalists after submitting the letter, Raphael Adebayo, national secretary of the movement, said Mantu’s confession has shown that “corruption is endemic in the electoral system”.

He said: “Since the beginning of the first republic, the vote of the electorates in Nigeria has consistently diminished and this can be simply traced to the different existence of electoral malpractices among many others.”