Since the recent Supreme Court judgement granting financial autonomy to local governments in Nigeria, state governors have been racing against time to avoid stoppage of grants by the federal government.
So far, many states have conducted their local government elections while others have set time for it. However, it has remained debatable whether the elections conducted by those states have passed the integrity test and reflected the wishes of electorates or not.
For those who have been monitoring the outcomes of the elections are of the opinion that the elections are sham and far from being free and fair. The win-it-all syndrome usually characterised the conduct of local government elections did not only play out but become worst in most of the elections conducted recently by SIECOM.
State governors ensure only candidates from their parties are declared winners.
When Senator Sani Musa (Niger South), sponsored a bill for the creation of Nigerian Local Government Elections Commission (NILGEC), Nigerians heaved a sigh of relief. There is no gainsaying the fact that the creation of local government election commissions in Nigeria is a crucial step towards ensuring grassroots participation in governance.
According to the bill, the NILGEC will be an autonomous body to organise, oversee and conduct elections for the office of local government chairmen and councillors in all 36 state and the FCT.
The local government elections commission bill has never come at a right time than now when majority of Nigerians have passed vote of no confidence on the local government elections in the country being conducted by SIECOM.
The state independent electorate commissions dance to the tune of their governors. They always announce results in favour of their state governors’ political parties. Their unwholesome practices have dampened the morale of the electorate and created a huge voters’ apathy. The electorate hardly comes out to exercise their civic responsibility. With the elections outcome already pre-determined voters felt, it would be an exercise in futility to vote when their votes would not count.
But with the success story of INEC in the conduct of FCT area councils’ elections, where candidates from different political parties won, the National Assembly should hasten the passing of this important bill.
The much-talked financial autonomy granted to local governments should be accompanied by political autonomy. People at the grassroots must have a liberty to vote in free and fair elections. The imposition of candidates by state governors against the wishes of the electorate retards local government development. These imposed leaders do not care to account for their stewardship to their people.
At 25 years of democracy, the local governments system has been bastardised beyond recognition. Local governments, as the third tier of government, cannot perform their local functions.
Their constitutional roles have been tied up to the apron strings of governors who seldom allow them to breathe. In order to deepen democratic participation at the grassroots, accelerate development and above all reduce poverty, there is the need for quality leadership at the local governments. To achieve this, there is the need for free and fair elections.
Ibrahim Mustapha Pambegua, Kaduna State
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