Battles over LG electionsBattles over LG elections

By Chidiebere Onyemaizu

Established, funded and remotely controlled by state governors, State Independent Electoral Commissions, SIECs across the country have arguably proven a parody of what electoral umpires should be. It is for this reason that some Nigerians, derogatorily, refer to them as “State Electoral Selection Commissions”. Critics say SIECs in most states operate as agencies of government charged with the coronation of selected loyalists of the governors and presentation of the same as “winners” of council elections.

Political analysts point to the often one-sided “landslide” results of council polls in different states of the federation to buttress their arguments that SIECs are play things in the hands of the governors.

Daily Sun’s findings indicate that some state governors, in the bid to have a firm grip on their state’s electoral commissions and to get the commissions to do their bidding, that is, returning their anointed as winners of council polls, saturate the electoral umpires with their cronies including kinsmen, relations, party chieftains, political associates and business partners as Chairmen and Commissioners respectively.

“When a ruling party in a given state clears all the chairmanship and councillorsip seats- which of course happens in all the 36 states of the federation- just know  that such state’s “electoral selection Commission” has creditably performed its statutory function”, Illiyasu Aminu, a political analyst and a commentator on national issues sarcastically told Daily Sun.

However, citing as examples, former Governor Nasir el Rufai and the 2018 Kaduna State local government election where, despite being an opposition party, the PDP won five local government area Chairmanship seats and scores of councillorship seats across the state, Aminu believes that if state governors stop exerting pressure on the SIECs to manipulate the process, the various state electoral umpires will be fair and just in the conduct of council elections.

His words: “In 2018, the PDP almost overwhelmed the APC in the Kaduna State council election, this was despite the fact the state had an APC Governor, Mallam Nasir el Rufai. The Kaduna council election that year was relatively transparent, free and fair because Governor el Rufai had publicly pledged not to interfere in the process; he gave the state electoral Commission free hand to operate”.

Not a few Nigerians believe that the various SIECs are merely  independent in name.

SIECs, they argue, are appendages of the governors and the elections they conduct pathetic caricatures of the electoral process in the grassroots.

The brazen bastardization by SIECs of the electoral processes in the grassroots is fuelling the call for administrative autonomy for the local government system in Nigeria to allow the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC take over the conduct of local government elections.

Using the August 31, 2024 Kebbi State local government election in which the party in power in the state, the APC, cleared all the Chairmanship and Councilorship positions as case study of how low electoral processes have degenerated at the local government level, Aminu argues that “in a proper contest, you won’t find such an anomaly, a celebration of absurdity sort of, a situation where the ruling party won all the positions and opposition parties record almost zero votes. It wouldn’t have been possible for the parties that participated not to win even one councilorship seat had a truly neutral, non partisan electoral umpire conducted the exercise.

“What took place in Kebbi and many other states where sham council electoral exercises took place were no elections but mere selection and crowning of the Governors’ anointees, a parody of the real electoral process”, he added.

Recall that the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP had pulled out of Kebbi council election on the grounds that the Chairman of the Kebbi State Independent Electoral Commission, KESIEC,

Alhaji  Aliyu Muhammad Mera and all Commissioners in the Commission are card carrying members of the APC, an allegation the Commission denied.

According to the state PDP Chairman, Alhaji Bello Usman Suru,  “the Chairman of the State Independent Electoral Commission and All the Commissioners are card carrying members of the APC in Kebbi State, therefore organizing free, fair, and credible elections will be a mirage. We voiced out our discomfort with their appointments in several communications to the Kebbi State Government and relevant agencies involved in elections management in the State…the PDP therefore, doesn’t have any confidence in the leadership of the State Independent Electoral Commission to conduct free and fair election”

In Delta State where the APC had announced its withdrawal from the July 13, 2024  local government election accusing the state Independent Electoral Commission, DSIEC of skewing the process in favour of the PDP, the ruling party (PDP) went ahead to clear all the 25 chairmanship seats and 499 out of the 500 councillorship seats. The APC would later describe the exercise as a sham.

Amid the Ebonyi State Independent Electoral Commission, ENSIEC’s alleged partisanship on the side of the ruling party in the state, the APC, and PDP’s non participation, the recent council polls in the state were merely a coronation of the ruling party’s candidates. The APC won all the 13 Chairmanship and 171 councillorship positions.

The replay of the Delta, Ebonyi and Kebbi council election “landslides” is looming in Kano and Anambra states where the SIECs there have scheduled council elections amid opposition parties’ allegations of manipulations and compromise of the electoral process.

In Kano for example, while the state’s Independent Electoral Commission, KANSIEC is gleefully preparing for the polls, indications are that other parties and their candidates may be defranchised owing to the commission’s outrageous non refundable Expression of Interest Form fees.

Despite strident complaints from other parties, KANSIEC has stuck to its decision to charge N10m as non refundable nomination fee for Chairmanship candidates and N5m for councillorship candidates.

The Chairman of the state’s electoral umpire, Professor Sani Lawan said the council election is scheduled for October 26,2024 with 19 political parties  indicating interest to participate.

Meanwhile, the ruling New Nigerian People’s Party, NNPP in the state see nothing wrong with the cut throat non refundable nomination fees. While other parties are kicking against the humongous fees, the party has not only welcomed it but has been defending KANSIEC.

Justifying the development, the state NNPP Chairman, Hashimu Dungurawa said  KANSIEC deserved commendation for charging the fees, arguing that the move would guarantee the participation in the election of only people of high quality and sense of reasoning. According to him, only that category of people can afford to pay N10 Million and N5 Million respectively to contest the Chairmanship and Councilorship elections respectively.

“These fees would enhance effective management of Local Governments in the State and allowed for only credible persons to bear for the seats unlike what was used to be obtained with every Dick and Harry contesting”, he said

NNPP’s vigorous defence of the KANSIEC’s nomination fees, critics posit, is an indication that the electoral umpire is allegedly playing the script of the Kano State government. A member of the state’s Working  Committee of the APC who pleaded anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the controversial nomination fees told Daily Sun that the NNPP led government and KANSIEC deliberately set the high nomination fees to discourage other parties from participating in the polls.

“They know that not every party or candidate will want to commit such a huge amount into an election that will not be transparent; so the game plan is to announce NNPP candidates as winners- unopposed- in the 44 local government areas of the state”, he alleged.

In Anambra, Governor Chukwuma Sulodo’s faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA may probably be the only party that will field candidates for the September 28, 2024 council election in the state. The Anambra State Independent Electoral Commission, ANSIEC,  has been accused by other parties of having an already pre-written election results sheets in favour of Governor Soludo’s APGA faction, an allegation the ANSIEC chairperson, Mrs Genevive Osakwe vehemently denies.

In the run up to the polls, the Labour party in the state has announced its boycott of the exercise and sources say, the PDP and APC will likely follow suit. At a meeting ANSIEC had with stakeholders in Awka, the Anambra State capital recently, only the APGA faction controlled by the governor and Action Alliance attended as major political parties stayed away.

But while assuring Anambra of her Commission’s commitment to free and fair polls, Mrs Osakwe pleaded with political parties not to boycott the exercise as boycotting it will not be in the interest of Anambrarians. Her words: “Boycott will not be for the benefit of Anambra, political parties should go and canvass for votes because this exercise will be free, fair and credible”

The Labour Party governorship candidate for Enugu State in the 2023 governorship election, Barrister Chijioke Edeoga is among those who believe that for effective local government system,  council areas, apart from financial autonomy, also needs administrative autonomy in terms of taking away the responsibility of conducting council elections from the Governors/ SIECs and handing the same to INEC.

This formed the fulcrum of Edeoga’s open letter to President Bola Tinubu in July wherein he urged the Nigerian leader to immediately initiate Executive Bill abrogating SIECs to allow INEC conduct elections into the council areas.

“Given the clear and present possibility that the intendment of the Supreme Court judgment which is transparency and accountability in the use of local government resources by duly elected officers of local governments might still be manipulated by governors in whose powers it still is to determine who gets elected as Chairmen of the councils.

“Riding on the wave of nationwide acceptance of the judgment of the Supreme Court therefore, the National Assembly should be made to initiate and fast-track amendments to the 1999 Constitution to delist all mentions of state electoral commissions and push the responsibility for this to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

“If this is not done, the judgment of the Supreme Court on that matter will be seen as inchoate, thus providing a lacuna that would be further exploited to the detriment of the functional financial fate of local governments.

“To this end, an Executive Bill to excise Section 197 1(b) of the Constitution which created the state Independence Electoral Commissions should be initiated by the office of the Attorney General pf the Federation. Section 153 (1) which created the INEC should also be amended to fully vest the national elections management body with the powers to conduct elections to local government councils”, Edeoga’s letter reads in part.

Meanwhile, Professor Chris Chimdubem Ngwu, Chairman of Enugu State Independent Electoral Commission said INEC has a lot in its hands to dabble into council elections. Professor Ngwu told Daily Sun that he does not subscribe to the call for INEC to take over conduct of council polls, arguing that the national electoral body is not a repository of electoral transparency and fairness.

Said he: “How can INEC do that ? Is INEC done with it’s own statutory responsibilities? How successful, how transparent has INEC been that it can now take over the duties of states Independent Electoral Commissions? “INEC has a lot in its own hands, adding the conduct of LGA elections is creating more problems for INEC. We all know about the controversies surrounding INEC elections, every time it conducts elections. So, I cannot subscribe to that; I can’t support that.”