Routine allegations of state governors manipulating local council elections in favour of their parties, as evident in the last election in Oyo and Gombe, have rekindled the call for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct local government elections. But besides the required amendment of the constitution, the implication of adding to the burden of INEC, coupled with its credibility doubts, is equally weighty, SEYE OLUMIDE reports.

The local government elections held simultaneously in Oyo and Gombe states on Saturday, April 27, 2024, have again brought to the front burner, the arguments against the ability of the State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC) to conduct a free, fair and credible local council elections.

While agitations that the 1999 Constitution should be amended to empower the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to take over the conduct of council polls with the state supervising it, some believe that such an arrangement runs against the spirit of the federal system of government.

Section 3 Part II of the Third Schedule of the 1999 Constitution empowers SIEC to conduct council polls, while Section 4 of the Constitution defines the powers of the commission to organise, undertake, and supervise all elections to local government councils within the state.

Although the constitution allows SIEC to avail itself of the voter register prepared by INEC for the conduct of local government polls, INEC has no powers to perform any regulatory functions over SIEC.

The Guardian checks revealed that the council elections conducted in 1998 by the National Electoral Commission (NEC), in the twilight of the military administration, were the last with a semblance of credibility and fairness in Nigeria. Political parties that participated in the elections won various seats according to their popularity and political strengths in different wards and polling units.

However, since 1999, the outcome of the council polls conducted by SIEC has been reflecting the wishes of the governors, who appointed chairmen and other members of the state electoral body.

With the development that the outcome of the council elections can be predicted, opposition parties and electorates are showing less interest in the administration of the third tier of government, thereby diminishing democracy at the grassroots level.

There is a consensus that the desire of the governors to control allocations accrued to the local councils in their respective states has been identified as a major attraction for their desperation to ensure that only candidates of their parties, who are mostly their cronies, are elected as chairmen of various local governments.

The same desperation of the governors and failure of SIEC to be trusted with council elections allegedly played out in Gombe and Oyo states where the ruling parties won all contestable positions.

While the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo State allegedly manipulated the Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC) to return results favourable to Governor Seyi Makinde, even though 14 parties participated in the election, the All Progressives Congress (APC) replicated the gesture in Gombe State, with the state electoral body declaring a clean sweep for the party.

Why the Oyo State case was particularly curious and questionable by many is that in the 2023 general elections, the opposition APC won in all 33 local governments in the February 25, 2023 presidential and national assembly polls. APC won all three senatorial seats, nine out of the 14 House of Representatives seats, while the PDP won five seats.

However, in the March 18 gubernatorial election, Governor Makinde was re-elected by winning in 31 local governments, while APC won two councils. Out of the 28 seats of the House of Assembly, the ruling PDP won 24 while APC won four.

Comparing the outcome of the 2023 general elections to that of the April 27 local council polls, many have been asking questions on what could have happened between last year and now that could explain why APC did not win just a chairmanship seat.

Similar questions are also trailing the Gombe State Council polls, as to why all the opposition parties including PDP, boycotted the council polls leaving Governor Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya and Gombe State Independent Electoral Commission (GSIEC) to allegedly produce the result that favoured all candidates of the ruling APC.

Despite the obvious voter apathy that characterised both exercises, the results declared by the electoral umpires of both states appeared to be bogus and did not tally with the number of accredited voters.

In Oyo State, for instance, many opposition parties have vowed to challenge the outcome of the council elections in the court, specifically why most of the Electoral Officers (EOs) did not turn up with election materials at the various polling units on time. It was also alleged that where the EOs arrived early, sensitive election materials were either in short supply or were not available.

It was also alleged that the majority of the EOs switched off their telephone sets when voters and election monitoring officers were calling them for failing to turn up at the polling units on time.

Besides, an evaluation of results declared by OYISEC does not tally with the number of votes cast at some local governments during the election. There were complaints across Oyo North Local Government and other places where they cast less than 100 votes, but over 73,000 votes were later declared by OYSIEC in favour of PDP candidates.

The same scenario played out in Gombe where opposition parties boycotted the polls. Voter apathy was also reported contrary to the fat figures that were later declared in favour of the ruling APC candidates.

Even while declaring the results, the electoral body of both states failed to give an accurate breakdown of how the votes were cast and the number of invalid votes among others.

Another issue that affected the credibility of the two polls, which has also prompted some stakeholders to demand that INEC should take over the conduct of council polls was the refusal of INEC to release the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) as requested by OYSIEC.

OYSIEC Chairman, Isiaka Olagunju (SAN), appealed to INEC for the release of the BVAS for the local council election, INEC however, refused to grant the request on the ground that BVAS contained some sensitive information even when the Supreme Court has dispensed with all electoral disputes.

But besides what happened in Oyo and Gombe states on April 27, it has become a norm in the Nigerian political system that the ruling party in any state must win all the council polls, irrespective of the political dynamics in such states.

Oyo State chairman of the African Democratic Party (ADP), Ayodeji Ojo, said the last credible local council election held in Nigeria was during the military government.

He said: “After the 1998 council polls, which were conducted by NEC all others supervised by SIEC as stipulated in the 1999 Constitution, have always been in favour of ruling parties.”

The trend has, however, continued since President Bola Tinubu of the ruling APC came to power on May 29, 2023.

This might have prompted the former member of the House of Representatives, Sam Onuigbo, to approach the National Assembly committee on the review of the 1999 Constitution on the need to transfer the conduct of the local council polls to INEC.

He argued that if INEC conducts local government elections, it would minimise the manipulation of the process by governors.

According to him, “It is the party at the Government House that wins all elections, so I say we have to take out SIEC and allow INEC to conduct the council polls so we can have some balance and some competitive spirit.”

Corroborating Onuigbo’s position, Ojo said the National Assembly must amend the 1999 Constitution to empower INEC to take charge of council elections.

The former chairman of Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Ojo, who claimed to have been in the saddle of council elections in Nigeria since 1998, said, “there is no way any sitting governor or ruling party will allow the opposition party to dominate local councils. Even when a new governor emerges from the same platform the governor will still prefer to plant his loyalists and stooges at the local councils. That’s the reason democracy is not yielding dividends at the grassroots level in Nigeria.”

His views were, however, countered by the Oyo State chairman of African Action Congress (AAC), Kayode Babayomi, who said, “Even if INEC is empowered to conduct council polls in the country, worse may still happen until Nigerians change their disposition towards council polls and begin to hold governors and ruling party accountable.”

He said Nigeria could not be agitating for restructuring and at the same time making moves to distort the federal system of government by allowing INEC to supervise council polls. “This is contrary to the spirit of federalism.”

The Oyo State Labour Party (LP), Chairman, Tunji Sadiq, also shared same position with Babayomi, saying, that though it has become a norm in Nigeria that ruling parties and sitting governors manipulate council polls, “that does not warrant distortion of federalism as enshrined in the Constitution. It is like going back to the military era. We cannot be talking of state police, resource control, and restructuring and at the same time asking INEC to handle council polls. We just have to find a solution to the ugly trends council elections have taken in Nigeria.”

Meanwhile, the Oyo State Financial Secretary of New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), Odejide Mojeed, said it has gotten to a level where they either watch and fold arms, allowing the ruling parties and governors to destroy democracy at the local level, or they cede the council elections to INEC.

The Chairman of the Youth Party (YP) in Oyo State, Lanre Haruna, posited that Nigerians must wake up to the task of ensuring that the governors and other elected and appointed politicians do the right thing.

Haruna, who also noted that governors alone cannot be blamed for manipulating council polls, said people are showing a nonchalant disposition towards the grassroots elections.