The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has described local government elections as mere coronations of ruling party candidates, calling for significant reforms to ensure fair and credible elections.
The INEC chairman made this known on Wednesday during a courtesy call by the executive members of the Forum of State Independent Electoral Commissions.
The INEC boss came hard on state governors for not allowing SIECs to operate independently.
He noted that many SIECs lack functional offices, permanent staff, and the authority to conduct free and fair elections.
In his words, “The conduct of local government elections in virtually all the states of the federation has become mere coronation of candidates of the ruling parties. It is time to stop the coronation and 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 Local Government Areas in their States and cannot recruit their permanent staff,” he said.
Mahmood lamented that in some states, these commissions were only constituted shortly before elections and dissolved immediately afterwards, with critical functions often taken over by government officials.
He further highlighted the severe underfunding of SIECs, which forces them to rely on INEC for basic election materials like ballot boxes and voting cubicles.
” This dependency has led to confusion among the public, with many mistaking SIECs for INEC”, he added.
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