Tight grip: Govs devise new methods to maintain LGs below management

Regardless of its significance to progress and growth on the grassroots, native governments within the nation have been handled as private estates of governors, who’ve proven little or no regard to that tier of presidency. On this report, DIRISU YAKUBU examines the conduct of council polls in latest occasions and the menace it poses if governors should not rapidly prevailed upon to let go of their grip

Nearly everybody agrees that governance on the grassroots degree is vital to the authoritative allocation of values in any civilised society. Given its proximity to the folks, students and stakeholders of native authorities administration have been constant of their advocacy for autonomy for the third tier of presidency.

For the reason that return to the democratic mode of governance in 1999, Nigerian governors have virtually demonstrated little or no official eagerness to permit democracy to play out on the grassroots degree. With the doable exception of some, Nigerian governors see and deal with Native Authorities Areas as private fiefdoms.

Undoubtedly, the nation’s extant legislation is partly responsible for this. Whereas vesting the powers to conduct presidential, Nationwide Meeting and governorship elections on the Unbiased Nationwide Electoral Fee; the structure doesn’t accord native authorities council the standing of a tier of presidency; leaving elections into chairmanship and councillorship seats to the egocentric machinations of those omnipotent governors.

Typically making the most of the poverty in rural settings, state governors hardly implement real empowerment programmes on the grassroots; a growth that has continued to gasoline rural-urban migration for many years. The place elections are held in any respect, they handpick their loyalists, a lot of whom helped mobilise help for them throughout electioneering campaigns.

Consequently, even unpopular governors have discovered a approach to hold their political events related on the native authorities degree in any respect price, no matter their very own recognition or file of efficiency.

Arguably, nowhere has this been lately demonstrated than in Edo State, the famed heartbeat of the nation the place the outgoing Governor Godwin Obaseki whose Peoples Democratic Party made a clear sweep of all 18 chairmanship seats within the September 3, 2023 council ballot.

Earlier within the yr, Obaseki and the PDP’s waning recognition had been evident for all to see as they misplaced the presidential election to the Labour Party and the All Progressives Congress.

In final yr’s basic election, LP’s Peter Obi polled a complete of 331,163 to win the state, whereas Bola Tinubu, the then-candidate of the APC scored 144,471 to complete second. Atiku Abubakar of the PDP got here a distant third with 89,585 votes.

If that electoral shellacking was seen as a slip, what adopted subsequent left even persistent PDP loyalists shell-shocked.

Within the February 25, 2023, Presidential and Nationwide Meeting elections, the occasion misplaced all three senatorial district seats to the APC which received two and the LP which clinched one. That’s not all! The PDP received solely a single seat within the 9 Home of Representatives seats, with APC successful six whereas LP received two. Thus, the query was, “How precisely did the occasion handle to drag off an unbelievable feat it recorded in September of the identical yr through the council ballot?”

The Edo situation was no completely different from Adamawa State the place the ruling occasion received all chairmanship seats within the 21 Native Authorities Areas. In oil-rich Akwa Ibom State earlier within the month, a council election held within the 31 council areas left thousands and thousands of Nigerians in a bout of laughter.

Maybe cautious to not hinder the political understanding within the state between Governor Umo Eno of the PDP and the Senate President Godswill Akpabio, the State Unbiased Electoral Fee declared the PDP winner in 30 LGAs whereas APC miraculously received in Essien Udim, Akpabio’s Native Authorities Space.

Equally, the All Progressives Grand Alliance received all 21 seats in Anambra whereas PDP picked all 20 seats in Bauchi, 17 out of the 17 chairmanship seats in Enugu, eight seats out of eight in Bayelsa; 25 out of 25 in Delta all 33 seats in Oyo State. The principle opposition occasion was equally unstoppable in Taraba the place it received all 18 council seats.

It was the identical story of victory for the ruling APC in Benue the place the cleric-turned-politician Governor, Hyacinth Alia secured all 23 chairmanship seats. Elsewhere the ruling APC made it 27 out of 27 in Borno, 13 out of 13 in Ebonyi and all 16 seats in Ekiti State.

The President’s occasion was on music too in Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kebbi and Kaduna states, the place it received 11, 27, 27, 21 and 23 seats respectively, amongst others.

The joker within the park is the hitherto unknown Motion Peoples Party, which received 22 out of the 23 chairmanship seats in Rivers State earlier within the month. That is at the same time as political pundits argue that APP’s victory was largely the work of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, whose battle to the end with the Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike, for the soul of the oil-rich state, has left hitherto dominant PDP, gasping for breath.

Talking solely with The PidomNigeria, Professor of Political Science and former Minister of Education, Tunde Adeniran described the manipulation of council elections as “a catastrophe,” at the same time as he referred to as for an overhaul of the method to alter the narrative.

“Sure, it’s a catastrophe! This development underscores the necessity for a complete resetting of the political course of,” he mentioned.

In his contribution, political analyst, Jackson Ojo blamed the hijack of council elections by governors on State Electoral Commissions, including that previously, a nationwide umpire was accountable for all elections within the nation.

In a phone dialog with The PidomNigeria, Ojo mentioned, “What we’re seeing as of late is definitely an abnormality and lawlessness however it’s regularly changing into a norm in our political system. Prior to now, it was the nationwide electoral umpire that used to conduct elections in native authorities areas. All of a sudden, the legislation permitted the state governments because it enshrined of their legal guidelines enacted by their respective States’ Homes of Meeting to conduct council polls.

“This has now been abused by state governors because the ruling events within the respective states will all the time win all of the chairmanship and councillorship elections. It’s not democracy while you hijack the system and shout victory.

“There is no such thing as a method the native authorities areas might be autonomous of state governors if this technique continues to thrive. It is because of this that some opposition events now boycott council polls to point their degree of frustration,” he mentioned.

Describing the event as a hazard to democracy, Mr Ojo referred to as on the federal parliament to wade in by means of legislative intervention to handle the problem.

“The Nationwide Meeting ought to enact a legislation to revert to the outdated order, which gave energy to the nationwide electoral fee to conduct native authorities elections. The Unbiased Nationwide Electoral Fee might have integrity burden however it’s way more credible than the State Unbiased Electoral Commissions,” he added.

Becoming a member of the dialog is the previous Secretary Normal of the Arewa Consultative Discussion board, Mr Anthony Sani who like others, laid the blame of comprised election polls on the toes of overbearing state governors.

He mentioned, “I’ve mentioned a number of occasions that governors have used state electoral commissions to kill democracy at native authorities degree. That’s the reason opposition events don’t win a single councillor seat within the states.

Actually, that’s what has knowledgeable our opposition to state police which may be abused equally by state governors.

“The best way out of this quagmire is to expunge state electoral commissions from the structure and permit INEC to conduct all of the elections on the identical day. That method, democracy might be practised on the native authorities degree. This will even scale back the fee and stop the bandwagon impact of the present state of affairs,” including that “If Kenya can conduct all its elections on the identical day, Nigeria also can accomplish that.”

Recall that solely lately, the member representing Doguwa/Tudun Wada Federal Constituency, Kano State, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, referred to as on INEC to take over the conduct of native authorities elections to make sure transparency and integrity.

“INEC is the one dependable electoral umpire. We should rapidly overview our electoral and constitutional legal guidelines to supply for INEC to conduct native council elections; in any other case, native council elections in Nigeria will proceed to be a caricature of what they need to be.

“Our electoral system, our constitutional devices and our participatory democratic processes can solely be assured below elections performed by the INEC. It’ll additional entrench the philosophical knowledge of the latest supreme courtroom’s pronouncement and judgement on the autonomy of the third tier of presidency in Nigeria,” Doguwa was quoted as saying.

Equally, INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu on Could 23, 2024, described native authorities elections as mere coronations of ruling occasion candidates and referred to as for vital reforms to make sure honest and credible elections.

Yakubu who had expressed his concern throughout a courtesy go to by the chief members of the Discussion board of State Unbiased Electoral Commissions, accused State Governors of manipulating the train in favour of their respective political events.

“Realising our shared accountability for the conduct of democratic elections in Nigeria and the challenges confronted by SIECs in finishing up their mandates, INEC inspired the institution of FOSIECOM in a real effort to foster partnership for credible elections in Nigeria.

“Sadly, the conduct of native authorities elections in nearly all of the states of the federation has turn out to be mere coronation of candidates of the ruling events. It’s time to cease the coronation and conduct correct elections.

“In some states, the SIECs are both not correctly constituted, haven’t any safety of tenure or their vital features have been taken over by authorities officers. Some SIECs are solely constituted on the eve of elections and dissolved thereafter.

“They’re additionally severely under-resourced to the extent that a few of them depend on INEC even for primary services similar to poll containers and voting cubicles,” the INEC Chairman was quoted as saying.

On his half, the Social Democratic Party has referred to as on the judiciary to step in and save the third tier from collapse.

In an interview with The PidomNigeria, SDP Nationwide Publicity Secretary, Rufus Aiyenigba mentioned, “There is no such thing as a democracy in Nigeria, going by the disagreeable and condemnable undemocratic actions of the political class. What we’ve got is civil rule.

“The emasculation of the third tier of presidency by the governors is an aberration; it’s a mockery of the beliefs of democracy because it retards the expansion of the grassroots.

“The judiciary ought to be arduous on violators of its judicial pronouncements in respect of native authorities’s autonomy.

“Moreover, the directors of our federal allocations ought to, as a matter of public curiosity, do the needful in getting the funds of the councils straight to them. That’s the fitting factor to do as a result of it’s the settled legislation of the land as of at this time,” he mentioned.