Activist Sulaiman advises Senate not to establish new Electoral Body for Local Government Elections

A human rights activist, Comrade Adeniyi Alimi Sulaiman has urged the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly to stop the ongoing Bill for creating of new electoral body for the conduct of the Local Government Election in Nigeria, urging the Senate to strengthen the current nation’s electoral body with more responsibilities of conducting Local Government election as it has been doing in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

Comrade Sulaiman stated that this call has become imperative to avoid wasting of meagre resources of the country for duplication of duties while there was an existing national electoral body that could be strengthened to perform such duty without wasting another resource of the nation.

It will be recalled last week that a Bill for the establishment of the National Independent Local Government Electoral Commission, NILGEC, has scaled first reading in the Senate and the proposed new electoral body will be saddled with the responsibility of conducting elections for the existing 774 Local Government in Nigeria.

The Bill titled, “Local Government Independent Electoral Commission (Establishment) Bill, 2024 (SB. 531)”, was sponsored by Chairman, Committee on Finance, Senator Sani Musa (APC, Niger East).

The said Bill, if the Senate approves, the proposed NILGEC shall consist of a Chairperson and six commissioners, appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate and they would serve for a term of five years, renewable once.

Sulaiman, who is Executive Chairman, of the Centre for Human Rights and Social Justice(CHRSJ), maintained that deduced from the Bill, it would be seen that new resources of the country would be committed to such an avoidable venture of creating a new electoral body for the conduct of Local Government election

A statement issued by the CHRSJ Media Office, signed by Comrade Sulaiman and copies were made available on Tuesday, stressed that the establishment of a new electoral body would also amount to wastage and impunity, in the face of the current financial quagmire facing the country with dwindling economy situation presently.

He further stressed that the formation of a new electoral body in the face of the implementation of the Oronsaye Report would be tantamount to anti-people, abnormality, and misplacement of priority, urging President Bola Tinubu not to assent to such a bill if brought before him but to encourage the Lawmakers to legislate on how to strengthen the INEC to perform its responsibilities including the conduct of Local Government election without fear or favour.

His words:”Since the State Government took over the conduct of Local Government Election, they have killed the morale of local government administration in Nigeria in terms of even development, uniformity and the leadership training ground for the people at the grassroots.

“Posterity would remember President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for good if he achieves financial and electoral autonomy for the Local Government in Nigeria and history will be kind to him for return the past glory of the local government administration in Nigeria”.

Sulaiman therefore, salutes the courage of the members of the Senate for trying to raise the bar of Local Government autonomy through the independent electoral body by urging them to also legislate to strengthen the INEC to be more independent in conducting credible and generally acceptable elections in Nigeria.