.Buni congratulates winners
. Exercise free and fair, says commission chair
From HASSAN JIRGI, Damaturu
Chairman, Yobe State Independent Electoral Commission, YOIEC, Dr Mamman Muhammad, has confirmed that APC won all 17 local government chairmanship and councilorship elections across the state.
Mamman, who announced this at the commission’s office in Damaturu, yesterday, said APC won all the 17 local government chairmanship seats and the 178 councillorship seats.
He also commended the electorate for ensuring that the polls were free and peaceful.
He added that the commission had received, considered, validated and adopted the results of each of the 178 councillorship of the wards.
“In Damaturu Local Government, Bukar Adamu of the APC, having satisfied the requirement of the law and scored the majority of valid votes cast at the election, is hereby returned as duly elected”, he added.
AljazirahNigeria reports that most states in Nigeria have not conducted local government elections thus attracting condemnation from keen observers in the country.
Besides, Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, recently challenged Chairmen of State Independent Electoral Commissions, SIEC, to conduct credible local government council elections with a view to enhancing democracy in the country.
Yakubu, gave the charge when he received the chairman and other executive members of the Forum of State Electoral Commissions, FOSIECOM, at the INEC Headquarters, Abuja, saying “It is time to stop the coronation and conduct proper elections. State Governors should allow the SIECs to have greater capacity for independent action”, he said.
According to him “Many of the SIECs have no functional offices in the Local Government Areas in their States and cannot recruit their permanent staff”.
He pointed out that “Some SIECs are only constituted on the eve of elections and dissolved thereafter. They are also severely under-resourced to the extent that some of them rely on INEC even for basic facilities such as ballot boxes and voting cubicles.
“Both INEC and SIECs are creations of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended). The conduct of Local Government elections is fundamental to the proper functioning of our democracy. Sections 153 and 197 of the Constitution establish INEC and SIECs as two distinct and independent bodies with powers under the Third Schedule Part I (F) (14-15) and Part II (B)[3-4] to organize, undertake and supervise elections.
“While SIECs are responsible for the conduct of Local Government elections for Chairmen and Councillors, INEC conducts all other executive and legislative polls from presidential and governorship to national and State legislative elections. Our mandates are therefore clearly defined by the Constitution.
“However, INEC is also empowered by Section 98 of the Electoral Act 2022 to conduct Local Government or Area Council elections in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, the INEC Chairman said.
