LG autonomy: Govs handpicking chairmen, conducting kangaroo polls, says group

The Coalition of Nigerian Youth Leaders (CONYL) has said that the Supreme Court verdict on local government autonomy will be an exercise in futility if state governors are allowed to continue conducting elections in local governments.

CNYL stated that state governors, as a way of circumventing the judgment of the apex court on local government funds, have now resorted to handpicking council chairmen under the guise of conducting elections in local governments.

Perturbed by the elections held in some local governments in the states since the Supreme Court judgment was given, the group dismissed them as a mockery of democracy.

A statement by the President General of the group, Goodluck Ibem, said that with what has transpired so far, the third tier of government is still tied to the apron strings of the governors.

“I don’t think that what is happening now reflects the true nature of what Nigerians wanted when they demanded full autonomy for local governments. Governors are handpicking people and asking state electoral commissions to return them as elected in kangaroo elections. This is sad and a serious minus to our democracy.

READ ALSO: Senate moves to amend Constitution for LG autonomy

“The recent Supreme Court verdict spelling out the powers, authority, and autonomy of local governments cannot be fully enforced and operational if the state governors continue to conduct LG elections using state electoral commissions.

“Allowing state governors to continue conducting LG polls is equivalent to appointing caretaker committee chairmen by the governors, which is an aberration and a travesty.

“The LG chairmen who are declared winners by state electoral commissions are stooges and loyalists of the state governors, who do their bidding by returning the LG funds to them through the back door while pretending to be independent when they are not,” they said.

The group asked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the National Assembly to, as a matter of urgent importance, make the necessary constitutional amendments to ensure that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) conducts LG elections, as was done in 1999.

“True LG autonomy will only be in force when INEC conducts the elections, which will make it difficult for any governor to impose a candidate of his choice, as is being done presently by governors through the instrumentality of state electoral commissions,” they added.