A bill seeking the establishment of Local Government Electoral Commission, which will conduct local government elections in the country, has been introduced in the Senate. The bill entitled, “Local Government Independent Electoral Commission (Establishment) Bill, 2024 (SB.531,” was sponsored by Senator Sani Musa, the chairman, Senate Committee on Finance. The bill has passed first reading at plenary.
If the bill is passed into law and assented by the President, the envisaged commission will replace the State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs), hitherto saddled with the conduct of local government elections. The bill intends to establish the National Independent Local Government Electoral Commission (NILGEC). It will be responsible for conducting elections to the office of the Local Government Chairmen and Councillors and any other natter thereof to do with local government as a third tier of government.
The introduction of the bill must have been informed by the recent Supreme Court ruling, which granted financial autonomy to the local governments in the country. The apex court had, among other things, ruled that only democratically elected officials should henceforth superintend the affairs of the councils instead of the caretaker committees, which most governors usually set up in violation of the extant provisions of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended). Before now, SIECs had been responsible for conducting local government elections.
In almost all elections conducted by SIECs, the ruling party in the state had won all the seats to the disappointment of other political parties. In many states, many opposition parties had boycotted such dubious elections designed to coronate the candidates of the serving governors. The governors have used SIECs to win council polls.
Since the recent Supreme Court judgement, some governors have rushed to set the timetable for the conduct of local government elections, which they failed to conduct since assuming office. Some governors even finished their 8-year term without conducting one local government election. The absence of elected officials at the local government level has stalled socio-economic development in the local government areas across the country.
Without democratic governance, the citizens living in the rural areas have been impoverished and denied adequate representations at the third tier of government. The ugly development might have exacerbated the growing poverty and insecurity across the country. It is perhaps the need to ensure democratic governance at the grassroots that the Federal Government sued the 36 state governors seeking, among others, the direct allocation of federal revenue to the local governments instead of the State/Local Government joint account.
Having won the case against the governors is not enough if the conduct of elections in the councils is left with SIECs, which are under the control of the governors. This is where the new bill to establish a federal agency to conduct local government elections tends to have some merits. However, it is a paradox to replace SIECs with another agency which is not radically different from SIECs.
Instead of establishing another federal agency to conduct the local government elections, the Senate can amend the extant laws to allow the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to oversee the conduct of elections in the councils. Retaining SIECs will vitiate the significance of the apex court judgement.
Interestingly, the Chairman of the INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has stated that the body has the capacity to conduct the local government elections. But this assurance is dependent upon providing the electoral agency with adequate resources. Although INEC has not always lived up to public expectations in some of its electoral duties, it is a more competent and neutral body to conduct the local government elections.
No doubt, the electoral agency has the manpower, resources and adequate facilities to conduct free, fair and transparent local government elections. Therefore, the Senate should have a rethink over the new bill and take into consideration the views of other Nigerians and stakeholders before arriving at what is generally acceptable.
The neglect of the local government system has contributed to the underdevelopment of our democracy and the nation’s rural areas. The control of the funds of local governments by the governors is the worst thing that has happened to our democracy. This can only be reversed if the financial and political independence of the councils are legally guaranteed.