The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu on Thursday categorically stated that Nigeria’s electoral body INEC, has the capacity to conduct local government elections in the country if provided with adequate resources.
He stated this during his appearance at the National Assembly Joint Committee on the INEC and Electoral Committees.
Reacting to a question from members of the National Assembly joint panel on the position of the commission on the Supreme Court verdict regarding the financial autonomy for local government areas, Yakubu stated that he was aware of the calls for the creation of a new electoral agency for conducting elections or the unbundling of INEC.
He however, stated that INEC, under his leadership has the capacity, competence, human resources, and adequate experience to conduct local government elections across the 774 councils across Nigeria. This he justified with the successes of frequent off season and bye elections as well as the six Federal Capital Territory. Also citing the federal and state level elections which has always been conducted by INEC.
The INEC chairman said: “So if this responsibility for the conduct of local government elections is transferred to INEC, can INEC cope? The answer is yes, INEC can cope. What are we? By definition, INEC is the Independent National Electoral Commission.
“A national electoral commission may be expected to implement only the presidential and National Assembly elections. We also do governorship elections, we do state assembly elections, and we do the area council elections in the Federal Capital Territory.
“Our track report actually proves that we can do it. Take the case of the Federal Capital Territory. I would like to say one or two things about the FTC local government elections.
“There are six area councils of the FCT. So, there are six chairmen of area councils, there are 62 wards in the FCT. Each ward has a councilorship for the election of councils.
“This is one part of the country where INEC has conducted local government elections and it has resulted in the following.
“First, it is perhaps the only part of the country where local government elections are held regularly.
“Second, there has never been a caretaker committee for any area council in the FCT. INEC has been conducting the elections regularly.
“Thirdly, there is stability of tenure or security 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. So they enjoy security of tenure.
“No single political party has ever won elections in all the constituencies in the FCT, not one.
“In fact, what is interesting now is that out of the six chairmen of the FCT, actually the council and the constituencies are evenly split between the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party which won three councils each.”
The chairman also noted that FCT councils are made up of urban and rural communities, an indication that it has adequate experience to do so in any part of the country.
He said: “So in terms of capacity to do it, we can do it, we have been doing it in the federal capital territory.
“However, if the decision of the National Assembly is to amend the constitution. I need to put that responsibility back to you. We need an engagement with the National Assembly.
He also highlighted the need to specify the funding for the elections and amendment of the law clarifying INEC’s responsibilities. He said:
“There are certain special amendments that are to be done for us to be able to handle those additional responsibilities.
“For instance, will the federal government continue to fund the elections for the states and the local government?
“The second proposition we have had is that there should be a new federal electoral commission for local government elections.
“Sadly, there is another argument that does not want the state electoral commissions to conduct local government elections in the spirit of federalism, but they should find a way of ensuring that they improve on the conduct.
“Right now, the law has not been amended. The same constitution that creates INEC also creates the state independent electoral commissions.
“So, it is up to the National Assembly to amend the law to transfer that responsibility to INEC. If that is done, the question is can INEC cope? Yes, we can.
“We have said that we should not be unbundled beyond the conduct of electoral activities rather than elections. There are two activities we handle. That is what is called electoral activities, not necessarily related to elections.
“We believe that some of these responsibilities can be handled by other agencies. And this point has been made consistently since 2008 by committees established to reform our electoral processes beginning with the Justice Mohammed Uwais Commission in 2008, that some responsibilities should be removed from the Independent National Electoral Commission.”
After the Local government arm of government was granted autonomy, there has been issues raised around the conduction of elections. INEC constitutionally holds responsibility to conduct elections in the country. If INEC is given the responsibility to conduct elections for Local Government, then the law needs to be clarified and adjusted to state the responsibilities and tenure for the Local Government heads.
