Since the July 11 Supreme Court judgment which granted financial autonomy to Local Governments (LGs), there are divergent views about the future of elections for the 774 LG chairmen and councilors representing the 8,809 electoral wards in Nigeria.
One of these is the growing call for the scrapping of State Independent National Electoral Commissions (SIECs) and the amendment of the Constitution to empower the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct elections into elective offices at the third tier of government.
There is also the proposal for the establishment of Independent Local Government Electoral Commission (NILGEC) to handle LGs elections, while some stakeholders want strengthening of SIEC to conduct credible elections.
Although both INEC and SIECs are creations of the Constitution, the two operate as separate distinct and independent bodies.
Section 98 of the Electoral Act 2022 empowers INEC to conduct presidential, governorship, national and state legislative elections.
This also includes for the 68 constituencies in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) made up of six area council chairmen and 62 councilors.
On the other hand, the 36 SIECs are responsible for conducting elections for 768 LG chairmen and 8,747 councilors.
Unfortunately, over time, elections conducted by SIECs have come under heavy criticism as the ruling party in the state always sweeps the polls across all the local governments.
This trend is generally believed to be dangerous to democracy, especially at the grassroots.
To political analysts, credible conduct of LG elections, where the will of the people is respected and their votes count is fundamental to the proper functioning of Nigeria’s democracy.
The President, National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Akwa Ibom Chapter, Anestina Iweh, frowned at a situation where few people would sit down and chose leaders for the third tier of government.
To Iweh, LG financial autonomy would almost be baseless if the process of election into the that tier government remains fraught with corruption and irregularities.
“The process should be free, fair and credible so that the people are allowed to make their choices.
“Everyone should be given opportunity to test their popularity, that is when we will have the liberty to choose who we want.
“At the party level, there should be free and fair primaries to produce people of proven integrity to manage the local governments,” she said.
In March 2024, the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said the conduct of LG elections was fundamental to the proper functioning of the Nigeria’s democracy.
He spoke while receiving the executives of the Forum of State Independent Electoral Commissions (FOSIECOM) on courtesy visit to his office.
Yakubu, however, said it was unfortunate that the conduct of LG election in virtually all the states of the federation has become coronation of candidates of the ruling parties.
He said many of the SIECs have no functional offices in the LG areas in their States and cannot recruit their own permanent staff.
“In some states, the SIECs are either not properly constituted, have no security of tenure or their critical functions have been taken over by government officials.
“Some SIECs are only constituted on the eve of elections and dissolved thereafter.
“They are also severely under-resourced to the extent that some of them rely on INEC even for basic facilities such as ballot boxes and voting cubicles,’’ Yakubu said.
While enumerating various efforts by INEC to encourage SIECs to maintain their independence, Yakubu urged state governors to allow the SIECs to have greater capacity for independent action.
He also appealed to the commissions to learn from the FCT area council election conducted by INEC, so they could enhance the credibility of LG polls.
On his part, the Chairman of FOSIECOM and Chairman of Ebonyi SIEC, Jossy Eze, stressed the need for the review of the constitution to make SIECs more autonomy and more effective.
Eze said: “We strongly believe that our financial independence is not only achievable but a sine qua non for virile Local Government elections in Nigeria.
“FOSIECON has again, recently submitted a memorandum to the National Assembly Committee on Constitutional amendment. We solicit INEC to throw its weight behind our quest for true independence.’’
As part of moves to address the concerns of Nigerians, Sen. Sani Musa, representing Niger East, proposed a Bill on the floor of the Senate for the establishment of the Local Government Independent Electoral Commission (NILGEC). His proposal has generated mixed reactions from Nigerians.
Rejecting to the proposed bill, the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) described it as unacceptable, unnecessary and another SIEC in disguise.
The group said it would lead to duplication of functions and waste of public funds.
“It is unacceptable, ill-conceived, another electoral jamboree that will impede the nation’s democracy and waste public funds at a time when citizens demand a smaller government to reduce the cost of governance,’’ says IPAC National Chairman, Alhaji Yusuf Dantalle.
IPAC believed that rather than creating another commission that would not address the present challenges, the Constitution and the Electoral Act should be amended to empower INEC to conduct all LG polls.
“LG elections at the moment is an aberration, dent and mockery of Nigeria’s emerging democracy; a waste of tax payers’ money that ought to have been channelled to developmental projects.
“To address the charade and further deepen Nigerian democracy at the grassroots, SIECs should be scrapped immediately. To restore confidence in the electoral system, INEC should be empowered to conduct all Local Government elections.
“Politics is local, citizens should be encouraged to actively participate in grassroots politics and contribute in building a better society,’’ Dantalle said.
Mr Chris Isiguzo, said that establishing a separate body for local government elections could lead to redundancy, increased bureaucracy, and potential conflicts of interest.
Isiguzo, National President of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), said gave his opinion at a recent INEC quarterly meeting with the media
“Instead, leveraging INEC’s established framework, experience, and resources would be a more efficient and effective approach to managing local government elections,’’ he said.
Expressing a contrary view, the Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, and NGO, Mr Samson Itodo, described the calls to transfer the power to conduct LG elections to INEC as a knee-jerk solution.
According to him, it will further overburden or suffocate the commission given its current mandates.
“If INEC is already clamouring for breath demanding that it should be unbundled I think it will not be fair to us as a nation to assign another responsibility to the same institution,” Itodo said.
Itodo also rejected the idea of establishing another body to conduct local government elections, stating the flaws in LG elections were due to the weakness of SIECs.
He advocated that National Assembly should amend the Constitution to grant financial autonomy to SIECs.
He said such amendment should make their budget a first-line charge from states’ consolidated revenue, similar to what state legislatures and judicial service commissions are enjoying.
He said that the law should also empower SIECs to set their own rules and regulation like INEC, as against the present situation where their operations are being subjected to the will of governors.
“If Nigeria wants to reform local government elections, it should begin with strengthening SEICs.
“When SIECs are given the autonomy that they deserve they will conduct elections that pass integrity test,’’ Itodo said.
While ppearing before the Joint National Assembly Committee on Electoral Matters in June, Yakubu alluded to the INEC capacity to conduct LG elections, if provided the necessary legal backing.
Yakubu said it was not possible that when it conducts local government election the ruling party in states would sweep all available offices.
He cited the case of FCT where he said no political party had ever won elections in all the constituencies in the FCT.
“The second proposition is that there should be a new federal electoral commission for local government elections.
“Sadly, there is another argument that does not SIECs to conduct local government elections in the spirit of federalism, but they should find a way of ensuring that they improve on the conduct.
“Right now, the law has not been amended. The same constitution that creates INEC also creates the state independent electoral commissions.
“So, it is up to the National Assembly to amend the law to transfer that responsibility to INEC. If that is done, the question is can INEC cope? Yes, we can,’’ Yakubu said.
Nigerians expect that LG elections would be replicas of what obtains in FCT with multiparty representatives at the Area Councils.
A secured tenure for elected LG officers and plurality in electoral outcomes at the grassroots is achievable with the implementation of the right decisions to improve the credibility of LG elections. (NANFeatures)
