The Charade Called LG Elections in Nigeria

The results of the recent local government elections held in Gombe and Oyo states have again shown that efforts to entrench credible polls at the local level have remained futile, Wale  Igbintade writes

The charade, which most state governments organise in the name of local council elections in Nigeria reared its ugly head at the recent local government elections conducted in Gombe and Oyo states.

In each of the local government elections, the ruling political parties in the states won all chairmanship and councillorship seats. For instance, in Gombe, the state Independent Electoral Commission (GOSIEC) declared that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) won all the 11 chairmanship seats as well as an unopposed victory in 114 councillorship positions.

However, the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rejected the outcome of the exercise, alleging that it was a travesty of democracy and mere drama. 

While the PDP said it was planning an appropriate redress mechanism to contest the outcome of the polls, the newly elected local government council officials were quickly sworn in by Governor Inuwa Yahaya to forestall any plan to scuttle their inauguration.

Unfortunately, the same PDP that complained in Gombe State, swept similar polls held in Oyo State where the state Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC) said the candidates of the party won the chairmanship positions in all the 33 local government areas despite the allegations of widespread electoral fraud, late arrival of materials and personnel, as well as unavailability of sensitive materials.

This time, it was the African Action Congress (AAC) that registered its displeasure with the conduct of the elections, called for its cancellation and described what transpired as a charade.

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Fẹmi Adeyeye, alleged that the state government did not conduct a credible election and called on security agents to release its state chairman and another member who were arrested during the elections.

Since Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999, LG polls have virtually become a charade. The results are usually predictable as the ruling party in the states usually sweeps the council polls, producing all the chairmen and councillors. 

Despite repeated discussions on improving local government administration issues, each State Independent Electoral Commission (SIECs), has continued to make mockery of democracy.

While lack of credibility has generally bedevilled local government elections, some states are notorious for using caretaker committees to run local governments in breach of Section 7 of the Constitution which provides that “the system of local government by democratically elected local government is guaranteed….”

In all the states that have so far conducted local government elections, it is a fact that the governors delivered between 90 per cent and 100 per cent of all the seats to their cronies. 

The mockery of democracy extends to the process that leads to the emergence of candidates for local government polls even within parties. Instead of a competitive process, where aspirants sell their programmes to enable party members to evaluate their strengths against those of other contestants, a selection process devoid of internal democracy, in the name of consensus, is adopted. Governors handpick their cronies, who may not necessarily have the capacity to administer local councils, as ruling parties’ candidates. And with pliant SIECs, state governments select local government chairmen and councillors in sham elections.

The governors often rely on the constitutional provision, which states that, “….Accordingly, the government of every state shall, subject to Section 8 of this Constitution, ensure their existence under a law which provides for the establishment, structure, composition, finance and functions of such councils.” They usually use this proviso to justify the sacking of duly elected council officials.

According to Premium Times, on several occasions, the Supreme Court has declared that sacking local government chairmen by governors is illegal. For instance, in May 2021, the court in a landmark ruling declared the sacking of 33 local government chairmen by the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, illegal and fined the state government N20 million for the act.

Governor Makinde had sacked all the elected officials, who were elected in 2018. Interestingly, his predecessor, the late Governor Abiola Ajimobi, only conducted the elections one year to the end of his eight-year tenure. When the election took place in 2018, his party, the APC, had cleared all the seats.

Nigerians have consistently argued that local government elections are too important to be surrendered to SIECs. They have called on the National Assembly and the federal government to abrogate SIECs and give the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) the powers to conduct all elections in Nigeria –  federal, state and local councils. Their position is that the quality of local council elections does not only make a mockery of the country’s democracy, but also makes Nigerians at the grassroots develop cynicism and apathy towards council elections.

As they are today, local councils have been incapacitated by state governments to the point that they cannot effectively accomplish these roles. 

Funds allocated to local councils from the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) are hijacked by state governments in the name of local and state governments’ joint accounts. Even now that federal allocations are paid directly into local council accounts, appointed chairmen in some instances are made to surrender those resources to state governments.

To address this anomaly of state governments manipulating the council electoral system through their appointed SIECs, the House of Representatives in 2021 considered transferring the conduct of council polls to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

A bill sponsored by Musa Bagos (PDP, Plateau) sought to amend Section 7 of the 1999 Constitution. 

The proposed amendment provides broad functions of the local government and empowers INEC to conduct the elections. Bagos’ alteration sought to delete the entire Section 7 in the Constitution and provide a new section of functions of the council, election, process of removal of the council and other sundry matters relating to the local government system.

Section 197 of the Constitution establishes SIEC for each state, while the Third Schedule Part II establishes the functions of SIEC. Item 22 of the Exclusive Legislative List excludes elections into the local government from duties of the federal government.

This was not the first time such a move had been made. In the eighth National Assembly (2015-19), the Senate passed an alteration that sought to achieve this same purpose. Then, the Ike Ekweremadu-led constitutional amendment committee  made 32 recommendations.

Ex-Senator Dino Melaye, who represented Kogi West in the Senate, moved an amendment that SIEC should be abrogated. According to him, local government autonomy will mean little if SIEC continues to conduct elections.

That amendment was passed by the upper chamber but it was not passed by the House, hence it died in the course of that alteration.

To this end, the proposal by a former Senate Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, that state governors who fail to conduct local government elections as and when due should be sanctioned needs to be enforced. As a country that operates a constitutionally guaranteed three-tier government, Nigeria cannot have a situation where the democratic process is left in a hiatus at the grassroots level, as a result of the undemocratic proclivity of state governors, while the other tiers are trudging along. The democratic institutions and structures at all levels should be allowed to flourish at will.