Autonomy: INEC shouldn’t conduct elections for LGAs – Councilors

The President of the National Councilors Forum of Nigeria, Yusuf Baba, has rubbished the call for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct elections for local government in Nigeria.

Speaking at a briefing in Abuja on Thursday, Baba said it was out of place to empower INEC to take over the responsibilities of state electoral bodies.

He pointed out that with the credibility questions hanging over INEC, empowering it to conduct LG elections would be a step backwards.

“The federal government electoral body should not be allowed to conduct local government elections in a federal system. We should instead, empower the state electoral bodies to perform better,” he said.

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Baba commended the Supreme Court for its ruling on Thursday in favour of Local Government autonomy, saying the ruling would allow the local council to bring dividends of democracy to the doorsteps of Nigerians, especially those in the rural areas.

He allayed fears that with more funds at their disposal, chairmen of local government areas could become a demi-god, stressing that “we should not worry about that. Let’s take it one at a time.”

The president of the councillors’ forum said with the ruling, there would be more funds to drive development at the grassroots, assuring Nigerians of more infrastructural development at the local level in the days ahead.

The Supreme Court on Thursday declared that it was unconstitutional for state governors to hold funds allocated for local government administrations.

The seven-man panel, in the judgment delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, declared that the 774 local government councils in the country should manage their funds themselves.

The apex court held that the power of the government is portioned into three arms of government, the federal, the state and the local government.

The Supreme Court, however, ordered the Accountant General of the federation to only pay in LGA funds into LGAs with democratically elected chairmen and councillors.