How independent are state electoral commissions?

The 1999 Constitution empowers State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs) to conduct local government elections in the 36 states of the federation. But, some of them have failed to conduct free, fair and credible elections. Assistant Editor LEKE SALAUDEEN examines the performance of the state electoral umpire and why council election results seem to lack credibility.

 

THE impression that state electoral commissions are independent as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution is stirring controversy among Nigerians.

Any time local government elections are mentioned, opinions are divided on the integrity of the electoral management body mandated by the constitution to conduct the elections.

There is no state where the State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC) conducted elections and the ruling party in the state in question did not sweep the polls.

Analysts are of the opinion that elections organised by state electoral bodies lack credibility because they are dependent on the governors who appointed them and the elections are usually programmed to favour the governors and their parties.

They insist that going by its composition, SIEC cannot organise free, fair and credible election because governors usually appoint card-carrying members of their political parties or their associates as members of the commission.

Observers said while the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been allowed to enjoy some degree of independence in the course of performing its statutory responsibilities, its state counterparts have become a ready tool of perpetrating electoral frauds during local government elections.

In most cases, the opposition political parties boycott elections conducted by state electoral management body because they do not have the confidence that it will conduct a free, fair and credible election.

The state electoral commission is the body saddled with the responsibility of organising and conducting elections at the state level. Nigeria operates bio-electoral commission system.

At the federal level, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is in-charge of election management, whereas the State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC) performs that function in the states.

Section 3 Part II of the Third Schedule of the 1999 Constitution makes provision for the establishment of SIEC.

Section 4 of the Constitution defines the powers of the state electoral commission as to organise, undertake and supervise all elections to local government councils within the state; to render such advice as it may consider necessary to the INEC on the compilation of and the register of voters in so far as the register is applicable to local government elections in the state.

In spite of the powers granted SIEC by the constitution, most state electoral commissions behave like appendages of the state executives.

This they do for fear of being removed from office by the state governors. Besides, the commissions depend on the state government for funding. They go cap in hands to beg for the fund to conduct elections. They are not financially independent.

This is why political observers believe that SIEC can never be truly independent of the state government. It also explains why the results of local government polls in Nigeria have not been a true reflection of the wishes of the electorate.

What usually takes place is mere allocation of scores to candidates which favours the party in power at the state.

For this reason, members of the opposition parties at the state level always see local government elections as a mere political game, an electoral routine and an exercise they should not waste their resources on. Local government election results are predictable.

For instance, the outcome of the local government held in Kwara State in 2013 revealed that the ruling party in the state then, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won the chairmanship positions in all the 16 local government areas of the state except Offa where the candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) held sway.

The PDP also won all the councillorship seats in the 193 wards of the state.  But the PDP administration in the state in collusion with the state electoral commission manipulated the judicial process to reclaim Offa Local Government.

One of the observer groups stated in their report that the election was a mere political game which did not portray electoral contest in its true spirit.

Similarly, the local government poll held in Ogun State in October 2016, the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), won all the 20 chairmanship seats.

It also won 228 of the 234 councillorship positions, leaving opposition parties with only five. The result released by the Ogun State Independent Electoral Commission (OGIEC) suggests that the PDP won only two councillorship seats, while a less popular party, the Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN) won three seats.

A political scientist, Dr Ifeanyi Odoziobodo of the Enugu State University of Technology, Enugu, blamed the shortcomings of the state electoral management body on how the membership of SIEC is constituted.

He said that the electoral malfeasances witnessed in the local government polls  should not be completely laid on the shoulders  of the electoral management body even though it contributes largely to the wide-scale malpractices that characterise elections and crisis of confidence they generate among the electorate.

Odoziobodo said: “In states where local government elections have been regular like Enugu, Kwara and Ogun States, the outcome of such elections has clearly shown that SIECs lack independence.

He added: “A situation where an election is conducted for many political parties and only one party wins all the seats shows that there is no competition and that the organising body lacks transparency.

“In elections conducted by the SIECs in the states mentioned, the party in power wins all the available positions. For instance, in November 2017 local government elections in Enugu State, the PDP, being the party in power swept the polls.

The main opposition party, APC dismissed the election as a fraud since they claimed that all members of the State Independent Electoral Commission were card-carrying members of the PDP, the party in power.

“In many states across the country where local government elections are held, the opposition parties normally boycott the election since they do not have confidence in the state electoral management body.

For instance, in elections held in Edo State, the PDP decided to boycott the polls. Citing distrust of the composition of Edo State Independent Electoral Commission (EDSIEC)  and the unwillingness to give credibility to a flawed and predetermined process engineered by the state government.

Similarly in Kano State, the PDP, the main opposition party rejected the outcome of the local government polls which saw the ruling APC clearing all the chairmanship and councillorship seats. The PDP alleged that the election was orchestrated to give the ruling party undue advantage.

“The state electoral commissions have in many instances demonstrated that they take orders from the state governors. This explains why some state governors would not conduct local government elections until they are about to exit from power.

This was exactly what happened in Rivers State where former Governor Rotimi Amaechi was on the verge of completing his second term office hurriedly directed the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) to conduct local government elections on May 23, 2015, while he was to handover on May 29, 2015.

This was after the 2015 governorship election, which was won by incumbent Governor Nyesom Wike. The APC candidate in the election, Dakuku Peterside lost the contest.

The APC, of course, swept the said local government polls, which were boycotted by the PDP. The PDP had filed a suit against the elections.

It was on the strength of this suit that the local government councils were later dissolved by a ruling of a Port Harcourt High Court, because the elections were conducted in violation of a court order.

A constitutional lawyer, Mr Richard Adetunji said for state electoral commission to achieve its constitutional mandate, it must be neutral, unbiased and a non-partisan body.

He said the commission is a kind of referee overseeing the contest of election between candidates sponsored by different political parties. It must be independent meaning that, it must be itself, not controlled or dictated to by anybody.

He said: “The hallmark of an independent electoral commission is that it has to be neutral and that the major electoral stakeholders must not fault its neutrality, otherwise, the election it conducts loses credibility. Their primary role is to conduct an unbiased election in which they are not interested in who wins or loses.”

The lawyer said the appellate courts on several occasions have declared in its rulings the importance of the perceived independence of the electoral umpires.

He said the Supreme Court, in one of its judgments, stated: “INEC by its statutory existence is an independent body with constitutional powers to conduct elections in Nigeria.

It must not only be an umpire, but it must also be seen, in the eyes of reasonable men, to be an impartial umpire in the conduct of an election.

The electoral body must never by an act of commission or omission place itself in a position where imputations of partiality in favour of one party against the other are levelled against it. Neutrality must be the watchword of the body. It must always remain fair and focused.”

Adetunji said what is said of the INEC is also applicable to the State Independent Electoral Commissions because they are saddled with the same responsibility of conducting elections even though into local government leadership positions for both the executive and legislative arms as stipulated by the Constitution.

He suggested that SIECs should be abrogated and INEC be empowered to conduct local government elections. He said: “If the suggestion is adopted, it will restore the confidence of the electoral stakeholders in the ability of INEC to organise and conduct credible elections.

The current arrangement exposes SIECs to partisanship which runs foul of international standard of conducting free and fair elections by any electoral management body.

“In essence, for any election to meet international standard, the electoral body that conducts such election must be seen to be neutral, in all ramifications. INEC is the EMB that conducts local government council polls in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

Since 1999, when INEC has held this responsibility, major challenges have not been recorded. In fact, in the last FCT council poll it conducted, the PDP, the main opposition party, won two out of the three chairmanship positions in FCT council.”

The Justice Muhammed Uwais-led Electoral Reforms Panel, set up by late President Umaru Yar’Adua in 2008, suggested among other things that SIECs and Resident Electoral Commissioners be abolished.

The panel recommended that state electoral bodies should be brought under the INEC structure, while RECs should be replaced by Directors of Election for each of the 36 states. The panel also recommended that INEC’s funding should be a first charge from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation.

Similarly, the 2014 National Conference resolved to have SIEC scrapped and recommended that its functions be transferred to INEC. The conference observed that state electoral commission has outlived its usefulness and has become a tool for governors to manipulate elections into local government councils.

 

A lecturer at the University of Abuja, Dr Abubakar Kyari said that there had been a clamour for transfer of SIEC’s function to INEC but the proponents of true federalism have kicked against it.

He said those pushing for true federalism argued that in a federal structure, the component unit has the power to conduct local government elections which should not be usurped by the central government.

Kyari, however, agreed that local government polls in Nigeria have been marred by irregularities because the state electoral commissions are partisan and have failed to deliver results that truly represent the wishes of the people at the grassroots.