90% of LG poll conducted in 17 states not credible: YIAGA Africa

A non-profit organisation, Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth and Advancement Africa, has called for constitutional reforms to strengthen the state independence electoral commissions toward enhancing the quality of local government elections in the country.
The Executive Director of the organisation, Samsom Itodo, made the call at a book launch in honour of one of its board members, Prof. Nnamdi Aduba, on Saturday in Jos, Plateau State.
The book launch titled “Building a virile nation: Law, economy and good governance,” was organised to honour Mr Aduba, who recently retired from the University of Jos, having clocked the age of 70.
Mr Itodo lamented that 90 per cent of the local government elections recently conducted in the country were marred by irregularities.
According to him, the SIECs lacked the constitutional reforms that will enable them conduct credible elections.
He stated, “Our position in YIAGA Africa has been that 90 per cent of the local government polls conducted in 17 states were not credible. They do not meet the integrity test and this is because these institutions are not independent; there has been a lot of political interference in their operations. You, however, cannot call for the scrapping of SIECs because the reforms that have taken place in the Independent National Electoral Commission have not been implemented for SIECs. SIECs are not financially and operationally independent; their regulations and guidelines are subject to the approval of the governor. These are some of issues that needed to be addressed if we want credible elections at the local government level.’’
On budget increment being demanded by INEC, Mr Itodo explained that conducting general elections in Nigeria required huge funding.
The executive director, who also blamed the political class for regularly subverting the efforts of INEC to deliver credible elections, called for attitudinal change among Nigerians.
He added, “Nigerians need to understand that elections are expensive –on general elections day, each voter will have not less than five ballot papers. It costs a lot to produce them. I think what Nigerians should worry about is the fact that as we spend more money for elections, the quality of our elections is declining. If our politicians aren’t subverting the efforts of INEC toward conducting credible elections just for their personal gains, we won’t be investing so much funds on technology to ensure every vote counts.’’
Earlier, Mr Aduba, thanked the management of the University of Jos and his former colleagues in the Law Faculty, for organising the book launch in his honour.
Mr Aduba, a professor of constitutional law, promised to continually contribute his quota toward the growth of democracy in Nigeria, even in retirement.
He said, “I’m retired but not tired. Teaching and research has been part of me; that is what I have been doing in the last 46 years of my life. I started from the University of Maiduguri and moved to the University of Jos 33 years ago. So, I will continue to mentor the young ones, particularly those who are serious about shaping the future of this country for the better.’’
(NAN)
We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.
More from Peoples Gazette

Agriculture
FG tasks ECOWAS on leveraging financing strategies for agroecology
The federal government has urged stakeholders in the agriculture and finance sectors in the West Africa region to leverage financing strategies to enhance agroecology practices

Politics
Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku
“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”

States
Edo government bans unions from collecting haulage fees
He urged all stakeholders to take note of this directive and comply accordingly.

Abuja
AMAC to arrest touts harassing motorists over revenue collection
Mr Okechukwu clarified that AMAC officials were well-trained and operated within the law, unlike the illegal touts.

Agriculture
FG to recapitalise Bank of Agriculture to boost food security
“We must keep producing and keep producing food for Nigerians,” he said.

Hot news Home top
Trump says talks to end Ukrainian war underway after phone call with Russia’s Putin
The American leader said both he and the Russian president reminisced about centuries-old history.

NationWide
Ogun speaker commends Dangote for economic interventions
He said the business mogul has commenced the export of products from the petroleum refinery to other parts of the world.

Lagos
Lagos: Policeman arraigned, remanded in Kirikiri for defiling 17-year-old inside station
The teenage girl was said to have gone to the station on June 29, 2024, to report about her stolen phone.