With agitation for State creation up on the nation’s political discourse, a retired director of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Mathias Ogbonnaya Ude, has expressed pessimism on the possibility of creating further states in the country.
According to the ex-INEC Director, there could be no true Local Government autonomy unless the law establishing State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs), is abrogated.
Ude made this disclosure in an interview with journalists. He said, “So, long as the Governors were the ones appointing members of State Independent Electoral Commission, SIEC, there could be no true autonomy for the Local Government.
According to him, the Governors are too powerful. And they would always make sure that their party won the Council elections in their State. And this is against true democracy.
Ude stated that it was the military in collaboration with INEC officials that instituted SIEC. They mandated them to be conducting Local Government elections instead of being centrally done by INEC as was practiced in the past.
According to the former Director, Local Government Council Chairmen could not perform optimally because the Governors would continue to control them.
Ude pointed that in their days, INEC made every effort to resist the idea but were prevented. He lamented that Nigeria could not move on unless the electoral system was corrected.
He said that unless INEC conducts election for every stratum, one party would continue to be winning Local Government elections. Thereby, leaving no room for the opposition to win.
“Go to Abuja, Abuja has six Municipal Area Councils. And since 1999, no one party has won all the Municipal Councils.”
Ude, therefore, posited that should INEC conduct Council elections, most Governors will lose control of their Local Governments.
“When this is done, there is no way the governor will have his way and control everything.
“Now the Governors have so much powers and can do anything they like. Governors in the States are like gods. They can do anything.
“If you joke with a Governor you are finished. The Governors are in charge. But that is not what those who wrote the Constitution wanted,” Ude said.
source: Blueprint
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