State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs) and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)

I want to warn against abolishing the State Independent Electoral Commissions and transferring their duties to the Independent National Electoral Commission. The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), had in May called for the scrapping of SIECs. According to him, governors have abused the rights of local governments by using SIECs to impose leaders on them through sham elections. But what of the federal government that has abused the rights of states by using INEC to impose governors and deputy governors on them through sham elections like the Edo 2024 governorship election?

Fagbemi added that the powers of SIECs should be transferred to INEC. The abolishing of the SIECs and transferring their responsibilities to INEC would overstretch the commission and undermine the autonomy of states. This policy proposal is fundamentally flawed and would have far-reaching implications for Nigeria’s 25-year democracy if implemented. First, it will overstretch an overburdened INEC, leading to poorly conducted local elections. INEC needs total reformation and not taking over the responsibilities of SIECs.

INEC announced the winner on the 22nd September of the Edo September 21st election and uploaded some results on the 23rd, 24th, and 27th of September and the 9th of October 2024, and these results ought to be uploaded in real time. Mind you, they uploaded more than 4000 plus poling units and less than 400 poling units took them two weeks after the election to enable them to perfect their rigging and manipulation of votes, which the good people of Edo gave willingly to DR ASUE and the PDP. Shame on all those who are involved in this sham and supporting this daylight robbery of the people; it is not acceptable.

Since the return to democracy in 1999, no ruling party has lost any council poll held under its watch. The ruling party only loses where it decides to by switching overnight to another party through the sitting governor’s proxies, as the whole nation just witnessed in the October 5 Rivers State local government election.

Recently, Hon. Ikenga Ugochinyere of the House of Representatives sponsored a bill to hand over State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs) to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), instead of asking for the review of the law setting up INEC.

Nigerians Want Urgently the Amendment of the Law Setting Up INEC, Not A Selfish Law Targeting SIECs Alone. SIECs has become a naked disaster that must be scrapped because it has become a shameless appendage of sitting governors, but what of INEC that has brought the greatest mockery to Nigerian people in the name of democracy?

It would be recalled that on Thursday, 3rd of October, 2024, a bill being sponsored by Hon. Ikenga Ugochinyere representing Ideato North/Ideato South Federal Consistency in Imo State and 24 members of the House of Representatives, seeking the deletion of Section 98(1) of the Electoral Act, to merge SIECs with INEC, passed through the first reading on the floor of the House.

The steps being initiated by Hon. Ikenga Ugochinyere and 24 other members of the House of Representatives to transfer the authority for conducting local government elections from the State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs) to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to stop the influence of state governors over local governance, are in order, but what of the law establishing the Independence National Electoral Commission (INEC)?

SIECs has become a naked disaster that must be scrapped because it has become a shameless appendage of sitting governors, but what of INEC that has brought the greatest mockery to Nigerian people in the name of democracy by constantly dancing to the tunes of a political cabal in Nigeria?

What Nigerians want urgently is to amend the law setting up INEC, not a selfish law targeting SIECs alone; if SIECs must be knocked off, the law setting up INEC must be reviewed too. A perfect case is how the governorship election held on September 21st, 2024, in Edo State, was brazenly rigged in favour of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

This bill is being rushed because some opposition state governors have succeeded in using it recently against the interest of the ruling party. Why now? Why not before now? This development is the most brazen attempt to spit on our faces, leaving INEC to continue to abuse us to our bones.”.

What should be a matter of urgent public importance should be the drastic review of the law setting up INEC. I urge that the right legal muzzle should be inserted into INEC clauses so that elections should be electronically conducted across board in Nigeria and to accommodate constitutionally neutral men of honour, integrity, and wisdom who will perpetually go after national interests, never the interests of a demented cabal such as it is being done today.

INEC is overdue for overhauling to align with what is obtainable in Europe and America. A body so fundamental to millions of Nigerians and so central to their ability to participate fully and equally in democratic processes should have been of greater interest to Hon. Ikenga Ugochinyere and his cronies. Those currently benefiting from the current fragile and rampaging arrangement of INEC should stop their glaring mockery.

Inwalomhe Donald writes via [email protected]