Similarly, African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights Act , also, provides the fulcrum and hub upon which the engine of remedies revolve in favour of victims. Parts of its relevant provisions in this respect include Articles 4, 5, 6, 12, 13 and14 thereof.
In view of the obvious lacuna in the Electoral Act, as shown above, legislative intervention, through urgent amendment of the Act, with a view to adequately not only providing much-needed protection for millions of Nigerians during elections, but also affording them, or their next-of-kin, in the event of death, commensurate restitutions.
In this way, the ‘aladdin cave’ brazenness with which such violence is unleashed on the citizenry will be annihilated and made a relic of the ugly past, thus not only realising the loudable objectives and intendments of the Electoral Act. Under the Electoral Act 2010, a few election-related violent behaviours and abuses could be found in Sections 117 dealing with acts of defacing, destroying &removing notices of documents required for registration; 128 relating to general disorderly conducts at election; 129 dealing with offences on election day and in particular, being in possession of offensive and dangerous weapons, loitering without excuse, snatching and destroying electoral materials respectively and 131& relating...