The only way to finally liberate the third tier of government from the stranglehold of governors is to abolish the State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs), the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has said.
ADC National Chairman, Dr. Ralphs Okey Nwosu, said this while reacting to the Supreme Court judgement that granted Financial autonomy to local government councils.
Nwosu, who spoke at the colloquium organised for ADC members in the six Area Councils of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), on Wednesday, argued that the political process should be made credible.
He said governors would always find a way to circumvent local government autonomy if SIEC continues to conduct elections into the councils.
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“State governors have laid waste of our democracy. They have reduced our intellectuals to nothing. Commissioners are like messengers; it is shameful to be a commissioner in Nigeria,” he stated.
The National Chairman noted that in Delta and Adamawa States where local government elections were conducted after the Supreme Court judgement on local government autonomy, the ruling party in the two states cleared all the chairmanship and councillorship positions.
According to him, for a semblance of democracy to be seen at the third tier of government, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should be allowed to conduct all the elections in the country.
He charged members of the party to transform the ADC from being “government-in-waiting” to party in government.
According to him, ADC cannot continue to be a party in waiting while the country bleeds, assuring that the party will stop the process of making Abuja an amorphous state, “where an appointed minister will be threatening a senator that she will not be re-elected.
“Abuja is a melting point for all Nigerians and foreigners. It does not belong to anybody. ADC will remodel Abuja.”
Nwosu commended members of the FCT chapter for their accomplishments, and told them to work towards winning the next Area Council elections.
“Be ready to takeover power and form government in the 36 states of the country and the 774 local government areas,” he charged them.
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