A civil society organisation (CSO) committed to electoral reforms, Yiaga Africa, has urged the federal government not to scrap the State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC) and charged the Akwa Ibom State Independent Electoral Commission (AKISIEC) to ensure free, fair, and credible elections ahead of the October 26 council poll in the state.
Speaking during a courtesy visit to the AKISIEC chairman, Elder Aniedi Ikoiwak, at the weekend, the director of Yiaga Africa, Mr Samson Itodo, insisted that the electoral umpire must conduct local government elections that pass the integrity test.
He noted that more work must be done to strengthen the independence of SIECs across Nigeria.
Itodo said, “Much work needs to be done to strengthen the independence of the State Electoral Commissions (SIECS). Congratulations on the passage of the amended electoral Law. This Law, despite some of the gaps that still exist, at least to some extent, gives the commission some latitude to conduct credible local government elections.”
He said Yiaga Africa had received electoral guidelines for Akwa Ibom State local government elections and urged the electoral umpire to adhere to the provisions.
“We have also received the guidelines, the timetable and notice for your local government election in October. It is to say that Akwa Ibom State is demonstrating some level of leadership compared to other states where we don’t know whether a local government election will be held.
“At least for Akwa Ibom State, we are delighted that a date has been fixed for elections. As you know, Chairman and Commissioners (AKISIEC), it is one thing to fix a date for elections and another to conduct elections that meet the integrity test,” he added.
He rebuffed the clamour to scrap state electoral commissions nationwide, adding that such agitation is not part of the call for local government autonomy.
“If you look across the country, there is a clamour for scrapping State Independent Electoral Commissions because local government elections have been a charade and a mockery of our entire democratic system. All of these are driven by several factors.
“State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECS) are not independent, whether operational or financial independence. This is an issue we have discussed consistently: how we strengthen the independence of the SIECS. Of course, there are issues around capacity, but for us at YIAGA Africa, our position is that we are completely opposed to the scrapping of State Independent Electoral Commissions because we believe strongly that it is a deviation from the entire discussion on local government autonomy.”
He noted that the constitution has challenges and charged the National Assembly to examine the constitutional gaps, which empower governors to dissolve democratically elected local government officials.
“It is important for the National Assembly to look at the gaps in our constitution that make it possible for governors to unilaterally and arbitrarily dissolve democratically elected local government councils, or that gives governors the leeway to withhold funding from State Independent Electoral Commissions because when you don’t have funding to conduct elections, it is one way to actually manipulate elections.
“Our advocacy is to continue to urge state assemblies to urge the governors to provide the funding required for State Independent Election Commissions to conduct elections. Election gives the citizens the opportunity to determine and make decisions at the local level because democracy ought to be felt at the local level. So, there’s a great need to do that, and we hope that the resources have been made available to you and the Commission to conduct the election that meets the integrity test.”
Responding, the Akwa Ibom State Electoral Commission chairman, Elder Aniedi Ikoiwak, assured the organisation of their integrity and capacity to conduct free and fair elections in the state.
“We have the experience, capacity and finances available to conduct credible elections in the local government in Akwa Ibom,” he said.
