AFTERMATH OF APEX COURT JUDGEMENT… Pressure Mounts For More Reforms In LGs

Stakeholders have called for sweeping reforms of the local government system to enable it maximise the benefits arising from the financial autonomy granted it on Thursday by the Supreme Court in the case between the federal government and state governors.

In separate interviews with LEADERSHIP Weekend on the apex court judgement and the future of local governments in the country, stakeholders comprising political parties, civil society organisations, lawyers, and prominent politicians said the judgement was just a surface scratch of the problems facing the third tier of government.

Consequently, they proposed a reform of the electoral process to enthrone true democracy and end the era of candidates’ selection by governors and endorsement by state electoral bodies under kangaroo elections.

They, however, expressed divergent views on whether the State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs) should be scrapped to allow the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct elections in councils.

The Supreme Court had, in its judgement on Thursday, granted financial autonomy to the local government areas (LGAs) in Nigeria.

The apex court directed that the financial allocations meant for running all the 774 LGAs in the country be paid to them directly.

It said that state governments have no right to keep and manage allocations on behalf of the local governments, a practice the court says is unconstitutional.

The federal government, through the attorney general of the federation and minister of justice, had instituted the case against the 36 state governors for disbursing federal allocations meant for council areas contrary to the position of the 1999 Constitution.

RELATED: Supreme Court Orders Direct Payment Of Allocation To LGAs
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Analysts see this judgement as an effort in futility if those to be saddled with the task of administering the local government funds are elected through the SIECs which are appendages of governors, who will ensure only their loyalists are elected and will still act on the whims and caprices of their masters.

At the return to democracy in 1999, INEC conducted the first election from Presidency to the local government councils after which the respective state governments created their own SIECs.

Section 197 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) establishes SIEC for each state, and the Third Schedule, Part II, establishes the functions of SIECs. Item 22 of the Exclusive-Legislative List excludes elections to the local government from the duties of the federal government.

Due to what many view as the abysmal conduct of the local government elections, there have been agitations and attempts to amend the Constitution to pave the way for scrapping of SIECs and transferring the conduct of local government polls to INEC.

INEC chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, admitted this recently when he declared that local government elections in virtually all the federating states had become mere coronations of candidates of the ruling parties.

Yakubu, who stated this when the leadership of the Forum of State Independent Electoral Commissions (FOSIECOM) paid a courtesy to him, stated that it was time to conduct proper elections.

“State governors should allow the SIECs to have greater capacity for independent action. Many of the SIECs have no functional offices in the LGAs in their states and cannot recruit their permanent staff. In some states, the SIECs are either not properly constituted, have no tenure security, or have their critical functions taken over by government officials. Some SIECs are only constituted on the eve of elections and dissolved thereafter,” he said.

The National Assembly has attempted to amend the Constitution at different times to allow INEC to take over local government elections, but to no avail.

For instance, in the 8th Assembly, the Senate passed a Constitution Alteration Bill that SIEC should be rescinded and for INEC to organise local government polls, but it suffered a setback in the House of Representatives and died a natural death.

In the 9th Assembly, too, there was a bill sponsored by Musa Bagos (PDP, Plateau) which sought to amend Section 7 of the 1999 Constitution and proposed Section 7(1) (e) to read: “An election to the office of the chairman shall be held on a date to be appointed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).”

The proposed Section 7(1) (e) implied that, if passed, it would have deleted the SIECs as they would no longer have any role since their only responsibility is conducting elections for the local governments, but the bill did not pass.

For the 10th Assembly, the spokesperson of the House Committee on Constitution Review, Hon. Philip Agbese, has yet to get back to our correspondent as promised on whether there is a bill seeking to abolish SIECs and transfer the powers to conduct LG polls to INEC.

The attorney-general of the federation and minister of justice, Lateef Fagbemi, had called for the abolition of SIECs and the transferring of its powers to INEC.

Fagbemi said governors had exploited the flaws in certain sections of the 1999 constitution, effectively rendering local governments powerless and irrelevant.

He said those shortcomings had allowed governors to abuse the rights of local governments by using SIECs to impose leaders on them through sham elections or appointments to caretaker committees.

“To achieve this (reform), many experts have proposed that there is a need for the scrapping of the SIECs.

“Their functions and powers should be transferred to INEC because the SIECs remain an appendage to every incumbent governor. This is the root cause of the problem of local government administration in Nigeria,” he said.

CSOs, IPAC, Lawyers Differ On Scrapping Of State Electoral Bodies

Meanwhile, the umbrella body of registered political parties in Nigeria, the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), civil society organisations (CSOs), and lawyers have disagreed on the calls for the scrapping of SIECS to ensure true democracy at the grassroots.

While IPAC called for the immediate scrapping of SIECs, the CSOs urged caution.

IPAC national chairman, Yusuf Dantalle, said the SIECs had proven to be incompetent and incapable of conducting free, fair, credible, transparent, inclusive and peaceful elections.

According to him, the state electoral bodies have become mere appendages of various government houses.

“SIECs do not have voter registers, BVAS, IReV portals, ballot boxes, etc., which are essential for conducting credible polls.

“INEC chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, rightly described local government elections as the coronation of candidates of the ruling political parties.

“The State Independent Electoral Commission is a dent on the nation’s hard-earned democracy. It is time to stop the charade called SIEC elections if we are serious and determined to deepen democracy in Nigeria.

“To restore confidence in the electoral process, INEC should be empowered and mandated to conduct all the local government elections in Nigeria.

“Politics is local; citizens should be encouraged to actively participate in grassroots politics and contribute in building a better society. Nigerians desire and deserve credible elections as sovereignty resides in the people.”

IPAC called for the immediate implementation of the Supreme Court judgement and charged local government chairmen to reciprocate the gesture by the judicious utilisation of the resources to deal with issues confronting Nigerians at the grassroots.

However, a CSO, Yiaga Africa, countered his position by asking the National Assembly not to succumb to the calls for the scrapping of SIECs.

According to the executive director of YIAGA Africa, Samson Itodo, the proposal to scrap SIECs is fundamentally flawed and will adversely affect Nigerian democracy if implemented.

Itodo said scraping SIECs would add a burden to INEC and, consequently, lead to poorly conducted local elections and undermine the autonomy of states guaranteed in the Constitution, potentially leading to an over-concentration of power in the federal government.

“In 2022, the National Assembly introduced a provision in the 2022 Electoral Act to regulate the procedure for local government elections in a bid to salvage the integrity of local government elections.

“SIECs were compelled by the Act to conduct local elections in conformity with the procedures laid out in the 2022 Electoral Act.

“Adding the responsibility of conducting local government elections would further strain the Commission, potentially leading to administrative inefficiencies and reduced effectiveness in managing electoral processes,” he said.

Also, following the Supreme Court ruling, an Abuja-based lawyer and House of Representatives candidate of the National Rescue Movement in the 2023 general election, Hon. Emmanuel Ayongul, said that if the Constitution is not amended for INEC to conduct local government elections, financial autonomy will be an effort in futility.

He told LEADERSHIP Weekend that if that is not done, state governors would, as usual, through the SIECs, select their stooges as local council officials who will be diverting federal allocations back to them.

“Local government autonomy, like the Supreme Court passed the judgement, is just one of the best things that could happen to Nigerian democracy. I consider it as a boost but if the Constitution is not amended for INEC to start conducting elections for the local government areas and council wards, I tell you, that financial autonomy is in futility because many of those products that come through SIECs are not elected but selected and many will be selected and, after allocations come to the local government, they may still take it to the governors to dictate how they are going to use it, and most of these governors may not have the intention…they (LGAs) will be incapacitated.

“So, for me, I will tell you, on a very serious note, that it is best to amend that Section of the Constitution where SIECs still have powers of conducting local government and ward elections; that will be the best. I will say it is best that local government elections should be conducted by INEC, or else, we still have a long way to go,” the lawyer said.

However, the executive director of Partners for Electoral Reforms, a CSO, Ezenwa Nwagu, believes that scrapping SIECs is not the ultimate way to entrench reforms in the local government election. Rather, they should be empowered and given more funds and independence.

He said, “INEC receives technical support from donors, and such support should be extended to the SIECs to empower them to perform better.”

He called for a review of the laws establishing them to prevent governors from appointing chairmen and commissioners for the commissions so that they do not act on the governors’ whims and caprices.

Senior Nigerian lawyers who spoke to LEADERSHIP Weekend were divided on whether SIEC should be scrapped.

Dr Ahmed Raji (SAN), a former Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Kano and four other states; Professor Awa Kalu, SAN, a professor of law and former Attorney-Genetal of Abia State, and some other lawyers have different views on the issue.

Prof Kalu said, “The federal government has no business interfering in the affairs of local government areas. According to him, INEC has no business conducting LG elections. To him, INEC has too much in its hand already, giving it additional responsibilities will render it ineffective.

“It is all propaganda, INEC has no business with local government election, they have not even been able to handle their own primary responsibilities well and you still want to handover another one to them. It is pure propaganda, to say you want to hand over LG election to INEC.

“The law guiding local government elections is not lacunae; it’s all propaganda. A Supreme Court judgement talks about the state having something to do with the running of the local government.The Supreme Court made it clear that you can’t be in Abuja and be conducting LG elections in the states”.

But Raji said the call to conduct LG elections by INEC became necessary because it is believed that the governors are not doing the right thing.

He said rather than ask INEC to conduct LG elections, the loopholes should be blocked, and SIECs strengthened to conduct credible elections.

“The reason for this is because it is believed that the governors are just messing with the SIECs. Where is the assurance that INEC will fare better.

“I think we need to deepen democracy. If there is anything the state commission is doing that is not proper, I think we need to block the loopholes and see that they are up and running because overcentralisation has its own problems.

“I think the monitoring should be more and the judiciary should intervene decisively where there is no semblance of election in any state in respect of the local government councils; maybe  one or two of them can be made examples”, he said.

Constitutional lawyer Barrister Ismail Bashir said the federal government should ensure the Supreme Court’s judgement is enforced.

According to him, he does not expect that it will be business as usual after the judgement.

He said that for many years, the governors had brazenly breached Section 7 of the 1999 Constitution by engaging in daylight rigging of local council elections and, by extension, mismanagement of the 20.6% local government funds, hampering the development of grassroots democracy.

“The governors’ actions have grossly affected LG development across the country. With this judgement, local government administration and elections should now be restructured.”

INEC Canvasses Constitution Amendment To Conduct LG Polls

Meanwhile, INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, while reacting to the development, said the commission had no constitutional power to conduct LG elections except in the FCT and described it as ‘a constitutional matter’.

“The same section of the Constitution that establishes INEC also establishes the State Independent Electoral Commission and we cannot take over their duties.

“It is good for people to engage in advocacy for INEC to take charge of the whole elections, but the Constitution has to be amended for that to happen.

Meanwhile, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has kept silent over the matter. Its national publicity secretary, Felix Morka, has yet to respond to an inquiry on whether the party will support the scrapping of SIECs for INEC to conduct local government elections to check governors’ manipulation.

Olawepo-Hashim Calls For Strong Oversight Structures

In his contribution, a former presidential candidate, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, stressed the need for adequate oversight structures to check abuse and ensure citizens truly benefit at council levels.

Olawepo-Hashim said this while commending the Supreme Court’s decision that the federal government send local government funds directly to the LGAs.

However, Olawepo-Hashim counselled that accountability structures, including the Local Government Legislative Assemblies, should be strengthened to ensure adequate oversight, so that local government funds that would now go directly to the LGAs are not subject to abuse but truly benefit the citizens of the Local council.

“We have a real opportunity for development to resume at the local government levels with the Supreme Court landmark judgement, but only when we put up structures to ensure that these funds do not become the personal purse of certain individuals,” he said.

The former presidential candidate added that “with these developments, LGAs should be able to pay attention to community policing, which is urgent and crucial given nationwide insecurity; intra-ward and neighborhood public transportation; regular grading of local roads to ensure easy movement of farm produce; primary and rural health services; Children’s early education, etc.”

Group To Track LG Funds, Activities Emerges

In a related development, the Patriotic Nigeria Youth Forum (PNYF) has launched the “Track Local Government Funds” projects and other activities.

The group’s goal is to ensure accountability in the third tier of government.

Its action followed the decisive Supreme Court judgment granting financial autonomy to all LGAs in the country,

In a press release signed by the convener, Comrade Olamide Odumosu, he commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for understanding that development has to start at the grassroots and for his determination to solve Nigeria’s problems.

“As patriotic partners in progress, we have a role to play in complementing government efforts. Without a monitoring mechanism on ground, cases of abuse are bound to happen, hence the need to launch the Track Local Government Funds (TLGF).

“A TLGF Team will be on ground across all the 774 LGAs across the country to ensure that funds allocated to Local Councils are used strictly for the development of the grassroots. Our goal is to prevent the rot that has become common with state governors. Fortunately, LG chairmen do not have immunity like governors,” hes noted.

Apex Court Verdict, Big Relief – Governors’ Forum

In their reactions, governors of the federation have said the Supreme Court ruling is a relief for state governments.

The chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and Kwara State Governor AbdulRazaq AbdulRahman disclosed this to State House correspondents on Friday at the Presidential Villa.

According to him, many people are unaware of how much states spend in bailing out local governments.

He said, “We welcome the ruling of the Supreme Court. Compliance is a given, and our attorney generals have applied for the enrollment order, which we’ll study carefully.

“But, by and large, governors are happy with the devolution of power in respect to local government autonomy. It relieves the burden on governors. Our people really don’t know how much states expend in bailing out local governments, and that’s the issue there.”

ADC Asks Ruling Parties To Conduct LG Polls Now

In light of the Supreme Court judgement granting local councils financial autonomy, the national chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Ralph Okey Nwosu, has challenged the national chairmen of political parties that control states to ask their governors to conduct local council elections.

Okey Nwosu, who stated this while reacting to the judgment, said governors had acted as octopuses, strangulating local government and community development and debasing democracy in many ways.

The ADC chairman described the Supreme Court’s affirmation of councils’ financial autonomy as an unprecedented political victory for the judiciary and a clear manifestation of how each arm of government can drive development by taking principled and patriotic positions in Nigeria’s interest.

He added that his party had continued to advocate for the active participation of the LG councils in running affairs as the council as the authentic grassroots leadership any nation needs in order to make organic progress.

He congratulated President Bola Tinubu for taking the bold step of liberating the councils, not minding his past and the antics of state governors and some legislators.