Despite the creation of these offences and their punishments by the law, few offenders are apprehended and prosecuted by the various security agencies in Nigeria. The consequence is that the offences remain in the statute books as mere offences while the offenders continue to commit several electoral offences. In situations of competitive rigging, the person who out rigs is declared the winner, while the opponent is forced to proceed to the election tribunal.

Also, the impunity with which electoral offences are committed affects the justice system in prosecuting electoral offences. People commit offences recklessly with impunity because they believe they can get away with it. 

The weakness of institutions saddled with the power of prosecuting electoral offences cannot be overemphasized. The institutions are: The Commission, police, courts and the Attorney-General’s offices. The issue of competence or capacity of the Commission to prosecute, conflict of interests where an officer of the Commission is the accused, clash of interests between the Commission and the police or even between the office of Director of Public Prosecution at both Federal and State levels since they are responsible for the prosecution of crimes. 

There is also the issue of weak evidences or no record of the offences committed by most of the suspects arrested. More often only the statements of the accused persons are found in the file without any statement from the complainant or arresting officers. When the evidences against the accused persons are weak, it will not be able to stand the test of cross-examination and cases are won and lost on the basis of evidence. It is also difficult to compel the attendance of police officers or security officers that made the arrest on election day as most of them are not within jurisdiction