ACN, CPC differ on scrapping of SIECs

Two main parties in the All Progressives Congress - the Action Congress of Nigeria and the Congress for Progressive Change - have expressed divergent views on the imminent scrapping of the State Independent Electoral Commissions.

While the CPC said it would check electoral interference by state governors, the Action Congress of Nigeria argued that it would give the Federal Government undue power to control states through determining the outcome of local government elections.

The House of Representatives last Wednesday voted for the scrapping of SIECs and the transfer of   their responsibilities to the Independent National Electoral Commission.

The National Publicity Secretary, CPC, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin, told SUNDAY PUNCH that the proposed system would allow the electorate to hold a central body responsible on electoral misconduct.

He said having an organisation to conduct all elections would facilitate an easier process.

 "That, basically, tallies with the position of the CPC. We strongly believe that the State Electoral Commissions usually dance to the whims and caprices of the state governors. And that is why, most times, you find that local government elections are conducted to satisfy state governors. It is like giving local governments to state governors," he said.

Fashakin, however, called for a review of the "multi-layer" nature of the country's electoral system.

While calling for a reduction of bureaucracy in INEC, he said the current system complicated elections and made them susceptible to manipulation.

He said, "Votes are moved from the polling units to the ward collation centres; from the local government collation centres to the state collation centres before heading for Abuja (INEC headquarters). In all these collation centres, we have had cases of manipulation, and that is why we have a very complicated electoral system."

On his part, the National Publicity Secretary of the ACN, Lai Mohammed, said there was no guarantee that INEC would conduct local government elections better that the SIECs.

Mohammed added that the scrapping of SIECs would not reflect true federalism.

He said, "Why will they scrap State Independent Electoral Commissions? What is the guarantee that if local government elections are conducted by INEC it will not be worse than the ones that have been organised by the state governments? It also does not reflect true federalism.

"What we should do is to try and see how we can insulate the various state independent electoral commissions rather than involve Federal Government in local government elections. It is very dangerous to allow INEC which is controlled by the Federal Government to conduct local government elections. The party of the person at the helm of affairs at the federal level can use federal might to railroad their victory in local government elections in states where they had lost governorship elections."

The INEC, however, said it was awaiting the National Assembly's decision to know its next line of action.

Speaking on the commission's readiness for the new system, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Mr. Kayode Idowu, said, "When we get to that bridge, we will assess how it can be crossed."


Punch