Probably for the first time in the history of the conduct of local government elections in Osun State in particular and Nigeria in general, OSSIEC under the leadership of the amiable and knowledgeable gentleman Hashim Akintunde Abioye (Esq) is on course towards breaking the jinx of the inability of State Independent Electoral Commissions to conduct free, fair and credible elections at the local government level. The need to put the issue of conducting local government elections in a proper historical perspective for a more comprehensive understanding of the salient challenges involved is greatly underscored, writes JIMOH AKANNI AGBOOLA
Local Government elections and the evolution of the local government system.
The history of the conduct of local government elections in Nigeria is closely tied to the evolution of the local government system. The six phases in this evolution according to Nwanna started with Phase One from 1950 when democratization of the local government system evolved, but the local government elections as presently conceived did not occur in this period.
In the period between 1960 and 1970, local governments were treated as appendages of state governments; however, it was in Phase Three that a great transformation occurred in the administration of the local government system.
The 1976 Local Government Reform brought radical changes to the local government system and also the conduct of local government elections.
The 1979 Constitution established the State Electoral Commissions, but the State governments did not allow State Electoral Commissions (SECs) to operate effectively. They opted for Caretaker Committees probably because they wanted to control the local government councils.
Between 1979 and 1983, we had Phase Four, by the time the democratic government of President Shehu Shagari was swept off the stage, there was no major local government election. Between 1984 and 1993 (Phase Five), the Military administration of General Ibrahim Babangida tried to salvage the local
government system. In 1987, Local Government Elections were conducted by the National Electoral Commission (NEC). These elections were essentially successful. Local government’s share of Federal allocation increased from 10% to 15% and later to 20%. At the sixth and final stage of the evolution of
the local government system starting from 1996 to the present time, despite the political turbulence of the time, efforts were made to revive the local government system. For example in 1996, local government elections were held on a non-party basis. In 1997 the National Electoral Commission of
Nigeria (NECON) conducted local government elections for “General Abacha’s five political parties”.
In 1998, local government elections were conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). All the local government elections conducted between 1960 and 1998 were entirely handled by one National Electoral Commission or the other and not State Electoral Commissions. This ugly situation led to the creation of the State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC) in the 1999 Constitution.
But it is interesting to note that the bottom line is that the local government elections were not uniformly or regularly held by all the states in the federation. Even between 2008 – 2022 when OSSIEC tried to conduct local government elections in Osun State, there were many infractions which led to the
challenge of OSSIEC in the courts. The rest is now history.
Inability of SECS or SIECS to conduct Local Government elections
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Many reasons have been advanced to explain the inability of SECS or SIECS to conduct local government elections effectively, especially in the past. Some of the most justifiable reasons asserted by Olaniyi who researched the issue include:
many state governments feared playing into the hands of the opposition so, they did not want SIECS to operate at all; Local government elections were not given premium position by many State governments; many have advanced the fact that SIECS are not truly Independent in their day to day activities and that State Governments created this situation; state governments seem to be obsessed with the use of Caretaker Committee at the detriment of elected local government officials for their obvious selfish reasons; state governments are probably interested in the Joint Account System which the recent Supreme Court Judgement on the issue has jettisoned.
Today, there is a clamour that the conduct of local government elections should be handled by the Independent National Electoral Commission or another National Independent Local Government Electoral Commission. This is a constitutional matter which is not supported by the present writer because if SIECS are strengthened, as an electoral body at the local government level, they would perform well. The case of the present OSSIEC’s efforts in preparing to conduct the local government election in Osun State in 2025 is a positive pointer in this direction.
How to strengthen SIECs to conduct effective local government elections
Some of the major efforts that can be put in place to ensure that SIECS carry out their functionsare listed below:
(a) The introduction of technology into the operations of SIECS would be very useful. After all, SIEC Kaduna State blazed the trail in this direction;
adequate funds should be made available for the operations of SIECS directly from the first line account of local governments; All stakeholders must cooperate and participate actively at all stages of SIECS’ operations; the Independence of SIECS should not be tampered with by the State Governments or any of its agencies; inter-agency cooperation, especially between SIECS, INEC, and Security Institutions, should be promoted; state governments must support SIECS in all possible ways;, especially between SIECS, INEC and Security Institutions, SIECS, and the political parties must socialize Voters in the realms of voter education; SIECS must breach the communication gaps in the polity especially before, during and after all elections; State Houses of Assembly must provide effective legal frameworks that would make the activities of SIECS to be clearly defined. This is happening presently in Osun State.
SIECS must be prepared to be exposed to the tricks of the trade through workshops, seminars, and other forms of training exercises for permanent and Ad-hoc staff who will execute the various activities of the electoral process, SIECS must function with greater integrity.
Conduct of free and fair Local Government Elections in Osun State on February 22nd 2025
Eventually, the present OSSIEC might become a great trailblazer in the conduct of local government elections in Osun State and Nigeria if it succeeds in ensuring that all the major standards for free and fair elections are essentially or substantially satisfied in its February 2025 Local Government Elections.
Conditions for free and fair elections
The major conditions for free and fair elections which OSSIEC must strive to attain are listed below:
Establishment of Legal frameworks for the elections; adoption of a Secret Ballot System (Open – Secret Ballot System); freedom of association and participation (political parties) Internal democracy; equal access to media by political parties; independence of the Electoral Commission (SIEC); accurate Voter Registration (INEC); Secure Voting Process (Security); adequate funding; availability of accredited observers (Local, National and International); means of effecting redress at a Tribunal after Elections; transparent selection process (Candidates etc); effective Voter Participation (Equal Opportunity to participate); Effective training of Permanent and Ad-hoc Staff of OSSIEC; strategic election logistics.
OSSIEC’S voter education and electoral guidelines
It would appear that OSSIEC is more than prepared to execute free, fair and credible local government elections in 2025 because the guidelines it issued and its various activities so far so good are positively skewed in the direction of achieving this ultimate goal.
The Legal frameworks that OSSIEC has identified to use in the 2025 Local Government Elections from what can be gleaned from its electoral guidelines and the pronouncements of the Commission are the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), the Electoral Act 2022, the provision of Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSSIEC) Law 2022, Judicial
pronouncements, rules and regulations it may issue from time to time and other essential instruments related to these elections. There are no ambiguities in terms of these legal frameworks. OSSIEC has satisfied the first conditionality in the process of preparing for free, fair, and credible local government elections. To spell out the nature of Osun State 2025 Local Government Elections, OSSIEC asserted: “The Osun State 2025 Local Government Elections shall be based on the Presidential System; as such, elections shall be conducted into the offices of Chairman/ViceChairman (jointly) in each of the Thirty (30) Local Government Areas in the state while elections shall also be conducted for Councillorship seat in each of the 332 wards across the Local Government Areas in Osun State.”
It is mandatory that if elections are to be fair, free, and credible, the balloting system must be explained far in advance before the election. In OSSIEC’s guidelines, the voting/balloting system was indicated thus:
“Election shall be by OPEN SECRET BALLOT at the various polling stations or units in the state and the Chairmanship and Councillorship elections shall be held on the same date throughout the State.”
For the first time in the history of the conduct of local government elections in Osun State and probably in Nigeria all the EIGHTEEN (18) political parties did show initial interest through IPAC that they are all willing to participate in the 2025 Local Government Election. Before now only the ruling party participated in the local government elections conducted by SIECS. One may conjecturally suggest that these political parties have probably seen the present OSSIEC as truly independent and also fully prepared to play the game according to its rules. The cat-and-mouse relationship between IPAC and EMBs is an interesting political trend in the electoral process all over Nigeria.
OSSIEC probably has nothing to do with respect to providing equal access to the media by political parties. This issue has been institutionalized as one of the activities of the National Broadcasting Commission. This Commission is very effective in this respect because sanctions have been imposed on erring media houses in the past. As it concerns OSSIEC, it must ensure that it communicates all useful and relevant information to the political parties through meetings and notices on radio, television and other appropriate media. The bottom line is that OSSIEC must not leave out any relevant stakeholders especially political parties when it dishes out relevant and useful information on its various activities. So far so good IPAC or any of its members has not complained against OSSIEC with respect to media issues.
The issue of the independence of the current OSSIEC seems to be more emphatic now than what happened before. The OSSIEC chairman does not act as if his agency is another state government agency.
He seems to depend absolutely on the Legal frameworks indicated earlier as the basic operational instruments of all the activities of his Commission.
The Voters Register compiled by the Independent National Electoral Commission shall be used for the 2025 Local Government Election in Osun State.
This register of voters has passed through many cleaning stages that make it accurate and authentic. This is a plus for OSSIEC since it does not need to reinvent the wheel.
With respect to security of the Voting Process, OSSIEC had in its guidelines spell out who is eligible to vote (p3) and the voting procedures it would adopt in the conduct of this particular election (pp7 – 9).
All of these conform to international best practices. In addition to the above the means of securing the voting process have been clearly stated.
The present writer cannot say much with respect to funding but the Honourable Chairman of OSSIEC has not complained about funds in as much as he has also not complained about the independence of his Commission.
These are all signs that OSSIEC is not tied to the apron strings of the government or its agency. One hopes this will continue all through.
On the means of effecting redress after the election, the OSSIEC guidelines spell out in clear terms on pages 12 – 13 what a candidate or political party that participates in an election can do to seek redress. These are the standard procedures allowed in similar electoral situations.
The OSSIEC guidelines also provide the ways and means of securing the electoral process through seeking the support of stakeholders, especially the security personnel, for its various operational levels. Almost in the same vein, the guidelines spell out in succinct terms ways and means of ensuring effective voter participation in local government elections.
To avoid any ambiguity and to ensure that political parties play according to the rules of the game for the purpose of ensuring a transparent selection process the OSSIEC guidelines on pages 4 – 7 spell out clearly how to qualify and disqualify a candidate for the election and the procedures and criteria for nomination of any candidate.
Other salient aspects such as observation of the election by accredited NGOs and others, and the training of permanent and Ad-hoc staff for the 2025 election are currently being attended to by OSSIEC. One is also aware of other overt and covert efforts that are being put in place to ensure the
success of the 2025 Local Government elections in Osun State. Other aspects covered by the guidelines issued by OSSIEC which have not been mentioned above include the function of OSSIEC, a notice of election, eligibility for voting, voter’s card, collation of results, electoral officers, election campaigns, electoral offences and samples of nomination forms and the amended notice of election.
There are still a few important issues that OSSIEC must keep to its chest but make open to the electoral public and relevant stakeholders at the appropriate time. These include ballot paper and election results design (Customised), security arrangements, logistics and supplies (involving timely delivery of electoral materials), result management, and ways and means of addressing electoral complaints. From what one has seen so far from the interactions of the Commission with the major stakeholders, OSSIEC is apparently transparent and accessible. It has displayed a lot of integrity in its interaction with the electoral public. The steps OSSIEC has taken so far and those it intends to take in the future as outlined in this presentation hopefully should make its 2025 Local Government Elections successful and credible.
After all, the election is not an event but a process, it is therefore mandatory for OSSIEC to effect what it outlined in its guidelines some of which are to be executed before the election, some during the election, and others after the election. The totality of these activities when substantially achieved would make OSSIEC to achieve the ultimate goal of executing or conducting free, fair and credible elections according to international best practices. OSSIEC has the men and resources to achieve this ultimate goal.