LG Elections: Mahmoud Yakubu Has a Point

By Okey Ikechukwu

Our people say that a man who pays a native doctor to give him a talisman to protect him from the machinations of his enemies has no guarantee that he would be alive within the next twenty-four hours. Reason? He may be struck down by a falling tree, a bolt of lightening not sent by anyone, or he may just stumble over a stump and, hit his head on a rock and die due to his own carelessness.

Thus, the average talisman seeker is urged to note that his failure to also ask the native doctor to give him a talisman to protect him from himself, or from any natural and perfectly unforeseen, misfortunes in future is a permanent Achilles Hill. He just might drop dead even as he is on his way home from his visit to the native doctor.

The foregoing should be food for thought for our governors who, in reaction to the Supreme Court judgement on local government finances and general autonomy are prancing about and doing their level best to see what they can still pull off a the las minute. The next phase of the battle for the soul that tier of government lies in the matter of who can become a local government chairman; and how.

It is by certainly elections of course that anyone will become a local government boss! But who will conduct that the elections? Certainly not me! By our current laws, it has to be the state electoral bodies. But a number of sitting governors are warming up to simply railroad whoever they want to be their local government lackeys into the local government headquarters of their respective states. Not so fast, perhaps!

First, the National Assembly is in the process quickly rolling out a legislation that will put paid to the planned antics of now-very-worried governors. Second, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that it has the capacity to conduct elections into the 774 local government area councils across the country.

Coming on the heels of the speedy engagement of the National Assembly on LG elections, the statement of the INEC chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, two days ago, before the Senate and House of Representatives Joint Committee on Electoral Matters would seem to be announcing the burial ceremony of the aspirations of the governors – going forward.

The INEC Chairman had gone to brief the lawmakers on the Commission’s
preparations for the upcoming Edo and Ondo State governorship elections and its relationship with the State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs) in relation to various court judgements. The Supreme Judgement of has strongly fuelled the view that SIECs should be scrapped to allow INEC to conduct local government elections in order to rescue the third tier of government from the control of State governors.

However, the INEC chairman told lawmakers that the commission can conduct elections at the third tier of government in the 36 states if the National Assembly amend the 1999 Constitution and transferred the responsibility to it to conduct the exercise. He said to them: “The same Constitution that creates INEC also creates the State Electoral Commissions. So, it is up to the National Assembly to amend the law to transfer that responsibility to the INEC. If the responsibility for the conduct of local government election 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 but right now we do national elections, we can do state elections, we do local

Not quite done, and determined to leave no one in doubt about his Commission’s Yakubu continued thus: “A national electoral commission may be expected to handle only the Presidential and National Assembly elections but we also do governorship election, we do State Assembly elections and do the Area Council Elections in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the only part of the country where INEC conducts local government elections. Broadly speaking, if you ask us, can we handle local government elections, yes we can handle the local government elections. When is it going to happen? When you amend the law and empower the commission to do so”.

He pointed that the commission has demonstrated by its track record that it can conduct local government elections; as can be inferred from FCT Area Council polls, which INEC undertakes periodically. The FCT six Area Councils, six chairmen and 62 wards. Each Ward is a constituency for the election of Councilors, which is one part of the country that INEC has conducted local government elections. It is one part of the country where local government elections are held regularly as at when due, because there has never been a Caretaker Committee for any Area Council in the FCT.

In addition, no single political party has ever won elections in all the constituencies in the FCT; pointing to the likely conclusion that whoever has been conducting the elections has not been “working” for any particular political party. Out of the six chairmen of the FCT today, APC has three Area Councils, PDP has three Area Councils. Concerning the Councillorship elections, the APC got 19 out of the 62 Councilorship seats, while the PDP won in 43 constituencies.

The inference from the foregoing, right or wrong, is that the NIEC Chairman has a point in saying that the same thing will be replicated if the local government elections are tucked under the belt of his commission. Hear him again: “In any case, if you transfer local government elections to INEC, what it means is that you are going to transfer almost 10,000 Constituencies to INEC. We have 8,809 wards, each ward is a councillorship constituency. We have 774 local government areas and each local government has a chairman. So, if you add this to the existing 1,591 constituencies where INEC conducts elections, it is well over 11,000 constituencies but the elections may not be held all in one day.

To make it legally operational, here is Mahmoud’s submission: “There are certain consequential amendments that have to be done for us to be handle those additional responsibilities. For instance, who is going to fund the 10,000 new Constituencies that INEC will be saddled with? There is need for a discussion to determine who is going to fund it. Or will the Federal government continue to fund for the states? You have to do something about the bye-elections if INEC is saddled with additional 10,000 Constituencies, we will probably be doing bye-elections every week,” the Professor of History said.

That said, and with some elections in the horizon as I write, let us rest the matter of LG elections and watch the unfolding drama;

Enter Another Off-cycle Election

Let me also invite our attention to a submission that was made on this page in the last week of November, 2019, wherein I said as follows concerning off-cycle elections: “There is often the assumption, mistaken in my view, that there should be far less security and other challenges any time elections are taking place in only one or two states of the federation. It is easy to argue that we need not deployment tens of thousands of police and other security personnel on such occasions. But is that correct? Are we right in inferring that the extra security on such occasions is unnecessary”?

We went on: “This argument, plausible it may seem apparent strength from a failure to distinguish between the actual needs of any electoral environment and the failure of those who should secure the environment for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to perform its duties. Security is needed but it is not the duty of INEC to own an army, or command same, in the process of preparing for, conducting or managing elections. That is the job of the police and other security agencies. It is only by collaboration and synergy that things can go smoothly. This is without prejudice to the activities of political mischief makers, as well as the possibility of having compromised security personnel during some elections.

It is against the background of the foregoing that one cannot reasonably deny the compelling need to beef up security, far beyond what would ordinarily be needed during any election, if such elections are taking place in only one or two states of the federation. It is also against the background of the foregoing that a blanket condemnation of either INEC, or the national security establishment, for whatever happens during elections can be said to rest on a fundamental misunderstanding.

While the misuse of the national security apparatus must be seen for the crime that it is, we must pay close attention to the fact that the travesty occurs at the higher levels of political leadership. That is where the threat of sack for non-compliance that hangs over most public office holders, military or not, comes from. The godfathers are still calling for the common till”.

That article also submitted that “Our political parties, to the extent that we insist on calling them that, are a far cry from what they should be. They make no investment in the political education of their presumed members. There manner of proceeding has put paid to the question of whether they have any interest in the people at all. All they plan for in the bid to get power is or “win” elections is (1) compromise whoever is available to be compromised, (2) take over the space where an electoral contest is to take place, if they can, (3) terrorize or subdue INEC officials, if that is the only way to determine final election outcomes, and (4) try any other thing they think they can get away.

INEC does not command an army. It is just another institution of state that can only function effectively and efficiently in collaborative endeavours with security agencies. It cannot perform the role of high priest in a room full of drunkards. It is an electoral body saddled with the unenviable task to teaching table manners in an unruly environment. But it has a job to do and has something to show for its performance in Abuja municipal, or LG elections.

As Was said back then, “At another level, there are those who would like to prevent it from performing its lawful duty, even when it is determined to be objective, impartial and committed to its assigned role as neutral umpire. That is why it is always in the line of fire for both foreseen, unforeseen and even unforeseeable events; including even bad weather in Sao Tome. It comes with the job, I guess. Challenges”.

As for the “Consequential Issues” arising from the Supreme Court judgment, the national Assembly should transfer the serious business of local government elections to INEC. For the record, yes, the INEC Chairman has a point!

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