By Musa Baba Adamu
A coalition of civil society organisations has opposed the scrapping of State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECOMs) and the reversal to manual voting by the Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission (KAD-SIECOM).
Laurence Obeweh, the Coordinator of ReSET Nigeria and Bako Abdul, the President of Campaign for Democracy, disclosed this while addressing a press conference in Kaduna.
Other CSO representatives at the conference were Stephen Waya, the convener of the Coalition of Associations for Leadership, Peace, Empowerment and Development (CALPED) and Yusuf Goje, the founding partner of Partnership for Issues-based Campaign in Nigeria (PiCAN).
The CSOs expressed deep concern over the proposed scrapping of the SIECOMs and the plans to centralise local government elections either under a new centralised body at the federal level or the INEC as being proposed.
Though understandable, they stressed that the move contradicted the principles of true fiscal federalism and meaningful electoral reform.
They said it would likely further erode citizens’ trust and confidence in the electoral process.
They explained that the Justice Uwais report on electoral reform, which recommended the unbundling of INEC, was a testament to the assertion that decentralised and specialised institutions should manage different aspects of the electoral process.
According to them, adding the local council elections to INEC or any new institution is already overwhelming and will be a recipe for further political instability.
The CSOs said they expected to see laws that removed the discretionary powers of the governors to appoint chairpersons and members of the SIECOMs.
They urged all stakeholders, including CSOs, community leaders and eligible voters, to actively participate in the forthcoming LG electoral process, engage in massive voter education, observe and report on the election and demand accountability from KAD-SIECOM.
