AMEND THE CONSTITUTION FOR US TO CONDUCT LGs ELECTIONS, INEC TELLS NATIONAL ASSEMBLY 24-07-24
By Sadiq Aminu The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, says the commission can comfortably handle the conduct of local government elections if the constitution is amended for INEC to take charge of Local Governments election.
The Chairman of the Commission, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, made this submission when he appeared before the joint Senate and House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters on preparations for the upcoming governorship elections in Edo and Ondo States.
Prof. Yakubu said the INEC has the capacity to handle the local government elections but that would only be possible pending when the law is amended to permit it to do so.
“Right now the law has not been amended. The same Constitution that creates INEC also creates the States Electoral Commissions. So it is up to the National Assembly to amend the law to transfer that responsibility to the INEC. If the responsibility for the conduct of local government election is transferred to INEC, can INEC cope? The answer is yes! INEC can cope.
The INEC Chairman, pointed out that the Commission had been conducting area council elections in the Federal Capital Territory which has been devoid of the problems associated with the conduct of local government elections.
He said some advantages of INEC handling elections to include that there are regular elections as when due, stability of tenure, and also that there has never been a caretaker committee in the FCT.
Professor Yakubu also noted that there has never been a time one political party has won all the seats at the elections as is common in the states.
“it is perhaps only part of the country where local government elections are held regularly as at when due, elections are held in the FCT. Number two, there has never been a Caretaker Committee for any Area Council in the FCT, INEC has been conducting the election regularly.
Number three, there is stability of tenure, it used to be three years but in 2022, the National Assembly amended the Electoral Act to provide for a four year tenure for Area Councils in the FCT.
Number four, no single political party has ever won elections in all the constituencies in the FCT. In fact, what is interesting now is that out of the six chairmen of the FCT; APC had three Area Councils, PDP has three Area Councils. So there is no election where one party has dominated.
“Perhaps this is what has been encouraging many Nigerians to say that if INEC is saddled with the responsibility of conducting local government elections the same thing will be replicated and it is good for our democracy. But as I said, the same section of the Constitution that creates INEC also creates the SIECs so until the Constitution is amended and it transfers the responsibility to the commission, this is what our position is.
He said if INEC handles the election, it would be better for democracy.
Professor Yakubu stressed that it was more challenging to conduct off-cycle elections than general elections.
On the forthcoming governorship election in Edo State, the INEC Chairman raised security concerns with the likelihood of the deployment of the Edo State Security Network for the polls.
He said the flood that affected the Edo office of the commission soaked their BVAS machines but that they managed to recover most of them.
Professor Yakubu, also pointed out that the power of incumbency was a major challenge against the conduct of elections in Nigeria.