19 parties reject LG Electoral Commission, want SIECs scrapped

• INEC raises security concern ahead of Edo, Ondo polls

Nineteen political parties in the country, under the auspices of Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), have rejected a proposed bill by the Senate to create a Local Government Independent Electoral Commission.

The council rather called for the amendment of the constitution and the Electoral Act to empower the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct all local council polls.

Chairman of IPAC, Yusuf Dantalle, stated this, yesterday at the third regular quarterly consultative meeting of INEC and political parties in Abuja.

The bill passed its first reading at the Senate last week.

The bill, sponsored by Sani Musa (APC, Niger East), seeks to establish National Independent Local Government Electoral Commission (NILGEC) to be responsible for conducting elections to the offices of local government chairmen and councilors, and any other matter related to local government as a third tier of government.

He said: “Council rejects the proposed bill by the Senate to create the so-called Local Government Independent Electoral Commission, bearing in mind that it would be another SIEC in disguise. It is unacceptable, ill-conceived, another electoral jamboree that will impede the nation’s democracy and waste public funds at a time when citizens demand a smaller government to reduce the cost of governance,” IPAC stated.

Dantalle stressed the need to scrap States Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs) to further deepen democracy at the grassroots level, describing elections conducted by SIECs as an aberration, dent and mockery of “our emerging democracy; a waste of tax payers’ money that ought to have been channeled to developmental projects.”

He said: “SIECS do not have voter registers, BVAS, IReV portals, ballot boxes and trained personnel to conduct credible elections. The polls they pretend to conduct contribute to voter apathy and distrust in the electoral process.

“To restore confidence in the electoral system, INEC should be empowered to conduct all local government elections. Politics is local, citizens should be encouraged to actively participate in grassroots politics and contribute in building a better society.”

Earlier, INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, urged political parties and their candidates in the Edo and Ondo governorship elections to adhere to the rules.

While expressing concern over the acrimony and tension characterising the campaigns, Yakubu noted that with only 53 days left to the Edo election, some political parties had yet to submit the list of their polling and collation agents, despite the portal closing on Tuesday, July 30.