The executive Director of Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo, has called for electoral reforms in Nigeria to liberate local government elections and detangle the State Independent Election Commissions (SIECs) from the stronghold of state governors by safeguarding their operational and financial independence.
In a statement, on Monday, Itodo described the conduct of local government elections as a travesty of democratic elections that fall short of electoral integrity standards. He said “To harness the benefits of the Supreme Court ruling granting financial autonomy to local governments, it is crucial to extend electoral reform to local government elections to liberate SIECs from the stronghold of state governors by safeguarding their operational and financial independence.
“Yiaga Africa has been actively working on local government elections and will issue a comprehensive report at the end of October, a period marked as the ‘super month’ for local elections. Our report will be based on the Local Government Elections Index we recently developed.”
He said as more states prepare for their upcoming local elections, it is important for the executive to refrain from interfering with the operations of State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs).
“We also urge SIECs to assert their partial constitutional independence to conduct credible elections. Strict adherence to established guidelines is essential for ensuring the validity and integrity of local government elections,” he added.
Recall the conduct of local government elections came into the limelight again this weekend as elections conducted in Rivers State and others saw the ruling party or parties supported by governors in power win virtually all the chairmanship and councillorship seats.
