By Harry Awurumibe, Editor, Abuja Bureau
Apparently disgusted by the way elections are being conducted at the grassroots, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has called on State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs) to stop the what it called the coronation of candidates of the ruling parties in the conducts of local governments election.
This is even as the INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu has called on the state governors to allow the SIECs to have greater capacity for independent action.
Yakubu made the views of the Commission known on Wednesday during a meeting with the executive members of the Forum of State Independent Electoral Commissions (FOSIECOM) at INEC Conference Room in Abuja.
He told the group that both INEC and SIECs are creations of the Constitution, saying the conduct of local government elections was fundamental to the proper functioning of the country’s democracy.
The INEC boss pointed out that Sections 153 and 197 of the 1999 Constitution established INEC and SIECs as two distinct and independent bodies with powers under the Third Schedule Part I (F)(14-15) and Part II (B)[3-4] to organise, undertake and supervise elections.
Yakubu explained that while SIECs are responsible for the conduct of local government elections for Chairmen and Councillors, INEC conducts all other executive and legislative polls from presidential and governorship to national and State legislative elections.
He said that realising the shared responsibility for the conduct of democratic elections in Nigeria and the challenges faced by SIECs in carrying out their mandates, INEC encouraged the establishment of FOSIECOM in a genuine effort to foster partnership for credible elections in Nigeria.
Yakubu stressed that over the years, attempts were made to encourage the SIECs to maintain their independence but regrettably that has not happened as state governors have made SIECs their private estate.
Said he: “Unfortunately, the conduct of local government elections in virtually all the states of the federation has become mere coronation of candidates of the ruling parties. READ ALSO:
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“It is time to stop the coronation and conduct proper elections. State Governors should allow the SIECs to have greater capacity for independent action. Many of the SIECs have no functional offices in the Local Government 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.”
