By Jude Opara
The Accord Party in has reiterated the need for the National Assembly to scrap the State Independent Electoral Commission (SIECs) to guarantee the integrity of elections at the grassroots.
The party’s chairman, Dele Oladeji, made the call in an interview yesterday, while speaking on Saturday’s local government elections in Lagos.
Mr Oladeji, who noted that electoral commissions are not in anyway independent, said scrapping them would ensure the will of the people prevail in grassroots elections.
He said SIEC duties should be transferred to the Independent National Election Commission to enhance democracy and ensure healthy political participation and competition at the grassroots..
Mr Oladeji said, “Nigerians are ready. Nigerians are ready for better elections, but when the umpire is biased, there is nothing they can do and lack of confidence in process is the root cause of apathy.
“State electoral commissions are not in any way independent. LASIEC is an example.They are not in any way independent.So, if we really want true democracy at the grassroots, there is the need for INEC to take over conduct of state elections.
“Saturday’s local government election in the state is nothing to be proud of.The preparations were haphazard, while many opposition candidates were disenfranchised by the commission.”
According to him, the narrative that INEC will be overburdened if saddled with the responsibility to conduct council polls is an excuse for not wanting progress.
He said though INEC could not be said to be perfect in the conduct of national elections, allowing the body to handle council polls would build confidence among political stakeholders and promote grassroots governance.
“They wont be overburdened, it is a lie. INEC has been around for some time, fine-tuning its operations. INEC can effectively and efficiently run local government elections, just as they rin state and national elections,” he said.
On Saturday’s polls, Mr Oladeji said the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission got its formula wrong,raising serious questions about the election’s credibility.
The chairman said, “The election cannot in any way be said to be free and fair, and the fault is mainly from the electoral commission. It is not free and fair because formula was wrong, there is no way you can get the answer.
“When you have candidates properly nominated by a political party, but disenfranchised by the umpire, when you have candidates that were not even sure of whether they on on the ballot not until election day,we cannot call that election credible. So, all those anomalies were there.It was not credible.”
He said LASIEC had a lot to learn from INEC to deliver acceptable elections and outcomes.
“LASIEC needs to borrow a leaf from INEC for efficiency and transparency,” he said.
Fifteen political parties participated in the the state’s local government election.
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