Should Governors Continue To play The Roles Of Players, Linesmen And Referees At The Same Time In SIEC-Conducted Elections? -By Isaac Asabor

It is no more news to not a few political observers and Journalists across Nigeria’s six geo-political zones that the Comrade Julius Abure-led Labour Party (LP) has rejected the result of the Edo State Local Government Election held on Saturday, September 2, 2023, across the 18 local governments in Edo state as announced by the State Independent Electoral Commission (EDSIEC).

The leadership of the LP condemned the election as conducted by the ESIEC describing it as another charade of how condescending a state government can unashamedly resort to in attempt to rubbish the gains of democracy.

Besides a number of areas of irregularities pointed out in a statement issued by the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. ObioraIfoh, in Abuja, on Sunday, the resentments and condemnations been expressed by virtually all members of the party in the state and beyond are mind-boggling.

Ifoh, who quoted Abure in the statement said that democracy can only succeed when the authorities allow the votes of the people to count and the choice of the voters respected.

He said, “Reports from our agents across most of the polling units in the state confirmed that there were deliberate effort by the EDSIEC to frustrate voters by ensuring that the electoral officers either came late to the polling units or didn’t show up at all.

“In few places where the election held, insufficient ballot papers were brought with no single result sheet.

“But at the end of the day, results were churned out with the candidates of the People’s Democratic Party returning elected.

He further said, “Before the election, credible information reached us that the state government had no intention of conducting any election, let alone a credible one.

“The EDSIEC we gathered simply took instructions from the government house and announced an already prepared list as winners of the election.

“Edo people and Nigerians deserve the best to represent them in government. What happened in Edo state was a mockery of democracy and such must not be allowed to stand.

“We, therefore, call on the state government to also condemn the charade that happened on Saturday, denounce the outcome and call for a fresh and credible election.

“State Independent Electoral Commissions across Nigeria have failed to help democracy grow. They are purely appendages of the states government and there is nothing independent in them.

“We therefore call on the national assembly to scrap the commission and entrust the conduct of the local government elections on the Independent National Electoral Commission for proper management.

“State Independent Electoral Commission has become an embarrassment to democracy in Nigeria. It is therefore time to scrap them so as to restore sanity in our grassroots politics.”

As gathered by this writer, late arrival of electoral materials, low voters’ turnout majorly characterized the local government election so much that the governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, was alleged to be behind the sham.

Given the dust and eyebrows raised as a result of the irregularities that characterized the election, and accusing fingers been pointed toward the direction of the governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, the question as to whether State Independent Electoral Commissions are truly independent has been a subject of debate. This no doubt has resulted in arguments and counter arguments.

In fact, since the election was concluded, not a few political observers, and members of the opposing parties to the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the state are asking whether State Independent Electoral Commissions are truly independent as their names connote, and the suspicion has been a matter of serious concern to not a few people.

The question of whether INEC should commence the conduct of local government elections across the 774 local governments in Nigeria instead of SIECs has from one political dispensation to the another been a nagging question since the undemocratic trend that is often exacerbated by SIECs often rears its ugly heads, and play itself out across the 36 states whenever the need to organise local government elections arises.

In fact, given how problematic the retrogressive situation has remained, calls in support of the idea that the INEC takes over the conduct of local government elections across the country whenever there are needs to do so have been mounting. In fact, the calls are becoming vehement, particularly as been witnessed in Edo State at the moment.

The reason for the call cannot be farfetched as experience has shown that the SIECs have proven incapable of conducting free, fair and credible election at the local government levels.

As gathered, not a few people are willing to urge the Federal Government to give INEC the constitutional mandate to take over the process of conducting local government elections from the states. Most people engaged by this writer on the issue are optimistic that if INEC takes over, it will go a long way in boosting the credibility of elections at the local government level, and that it will also improve participation at the grass roots level, rather than leaving governors to continue playing the tripartite roles of the players, linesman and referees at the same time.

The call is being fueled by the fact that many people have lost confidence in the SIECs because they are doubtful that electoral umpires at SIECs, particularly in reference to EDSIEC which was alleged to have allocated votes in favour of candidates affiliated to the PDP, the ruling party in the states.

In fact, the chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for Ward 7, Egor local government area of Edo State, Mr Kingsley Ogeifa, in response to the alleged misconducted local government election in Edo State, has called for a law that would empower INEC to conduct council elections nationwide, instead of leaving such election of critical importance to SIECs.

Ogeifa made the appeal while reacting to the delay in the distribution of materials in the September 2 Local Government Council (LGC) election in the State, and said he was disappointed at the shoddy manner with which the EDSIEC conducted the election process across the 18 local government areas.

“I am very disappointed, because it is unfortunate that at this time and age, we could witness such. “The last election that was conducted by INEC, they arrived here early. Before 8:30 am materials had been distributed.

“See what time it is. We are yet to see any sign of materials. It would have been better if INEC had handled this election.

“I think that should be better because the way it is now, most of the State governors believe they can do whatever they want to do because they control the State Electoral Commissions.

“I think INEC taking over will still be better.”

“If EDSIEC wants to conduct the elections in its office, it should have told us so that we would move down there,” he lamented.

The APC candidate was shocked that after several postponements, EDSIEC could still display this type of organizational shoddiness.

Given the foregoing arguments, the question, “Should governors continue to play the roles of players, linesmen and referee in SIEC-conducted elections?