Credible elections are needed at the grassroots' level of government
Worried by the deteriorating governance and democratic decline at the grassroots level, many Nigerians have been seeking constitutional backing to saddle the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with conducting local government elections. The pressure resurfaced again recently on the sidelines of a two-day retreat for INEC Resident Electoral Commissioners ahead of the governorship elections in Edo and Ondo States in September and November respectively. "It is good for people to engage in advocacy for INEC to take charge of the whole elections, but the Constitution has to be amended for that to happen," INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu said in response to the agitations.
The reasons why many are seeking INEC's intervention in local polls are not far-fetched. At Nigeria's sub-national local government level, the processes and outcomes of elections are poor and often pre-determined. Even with all its drawbacks at national and state elections, INEC has been conducting elections into the six area councils in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) with some measure of regularity and credibility. Indeed, at no time has one single political party won elections in all the constituencies in the FCT. At present, the council and the constituencies are evenly split between the two major political parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with three councils each. This is in sharp contrast to the state independent electoral commissions' conducted elections which many have rightly dubbed "kidnapping" or "state capture."
The SIECs are everything but independent. Local council elections are habitually rigged by governors and other state elites in favour of the political party in power in the state. Indeed, local governments are run as private fiefdoms of the governors, who in most cases appoint their cronies as sole administrators, manipulating elections in favour of their supporters, and arbitrarily determining the tenure of these "elected" local officials.
The results of the recent local government elections held in Gombe and Oyo States, for instance, have again shown the futility of efforts to entrench credible polls at the local level. In each of the local government elections, the ruling political parties in the states won all chairmanship and councillorship seats. In Gombe, the State Independent Electoral Commission (GOSIEC) declared that the ruling APC won all the 11 chairmanship seats as well as an unopposed victory in 114 councillorship positions. The state chapter of the PDP rejected the outcome of the exercise, labelling it a travesty of democracy.
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Unfortunately, the same PDP that complained in Gombe State swept similar polls held in Oyo where the State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC) said the candidates of the party won the chairmanship positions in all the 33 local government areas despite the allegations of widespread electoral fraud. In the Delta State local government elections held last month, the PDP won all 25 local government chairmanship seats, and clinched 499 of the 500 councillorship seats, losing one seat to a relatively unknown Allied Peoples Movement in Oshimili North local government area. Indeed, of the 88 local elections held over the last decade, the state governor's party reportedly "achieved a clean sweep in all but six (five of which were still won by a landslide)."
Last month, in what many described as a major victory for governance at the grassroots level, the Supreme Court granted financial autonomy to local governments. But this alone will not cleanse the councils of limited legitimacy, capacity problem, and the mind-boggling corruption. Besides, there are fears that it could distort the federal nature of our Constitution. But a consensus has already emerged: For good governance at this critical level of government, there is an urgent need for root and branch reforms that must include the conduct of credible elections.
