Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it can conduct elections in the 774 local government councils nationwide.
The chairman of INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed this when he appeared before the Senate and House of Representatives Joint Committee on Electoral Matters to brief lawmakers on the Commission’s preparations for Edo and Ondo elections and its relationship with the State Independent Commissions (SIECs) in line with various court judgements.
LEADERSHIP Friday reports that since the Supreme Court’s July 11, 2024, judgment granting financial autonomy to local government councils, there have been divergent views on whether SIECs should be scrapped to allow INEC to conduct elections in councils.
However, the INEC chairman told lawmakers that the commission can conduct elections for the third branch of government in the 36 states if the National Assembly amends the constitution, transferring the responsibility to it to conduct the exercise.
“The same Constitution that created INEC also created the State’s 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 state elections, we do local government elections.
“A national electoral commission may be expected to handle only the Presidential and National Assembly elections, but we also do governor elections, we do State Assembly elections and do the Area Councils 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 if we can 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 said.
According to the chairman, the commission has demonstrated by its track record that it can conduct local government elections as can be inferred from FCT Area Councils polls INEC presides over.
“Check the case of FCT, and I would like to say one or two things about the FCT local government elections. There are six Area Councils in the FCT. As I said, there are six chairmen in the FCT and 62 wards in the FCT.
“Each Ward constitutes a Constituency for the election of Councilors, and this is one part of the country where INEC has conducted local government elections, and it has resulted in the following:
“Number one, it is perhaps the only part of the country where local government elections are held regularly as at when due, elections are held in the FCT.
“Number two, there has never been a Caretaker Committee for any Area Council in the FCT, INEC has been conducting the election regularly.
“Number three, there is stability of tenure. It used to be three years, but in 2022, the National Assembly amended the Electoral Act to provide for a four-year tenure for Area Councils in the FCT.
“Number four, no single political party has ever won elections in all the constituencies in the FCT. In fact, what is interesting now is that out of the six chairmen of the FCT; APC had three Area Councils, PDP has three Areas Councils. If you take the Councillorship elections is very interesting indeed; 62 Councilors in the FCT, APC has 19, PDP won in 43 constituencies,” he said.
