AGF, Fgbemi, wants state electoral commissions scrapped
Lateef Fagbemi, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, has opined that State Independent Electoral Commissions, SIECs, should be scrapped.
According to him, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, should take over the powers of the SIECs, which have become tools in the hands of state governors render the local government administration in the country redundant.
Fagbemi was speaking at a conversation organised by the house of representatives themed: ‘Nigeria’s Security Challenges And Good Governance At The Local Government Levels’.
He noted that governors exploited the imperfections of some sections of the 1999 constitution to effectively cripple the local governments, leaving them without power and irrelevance by by exploiting the SIECs to organise fraudulent and impose their lackeys on the local councils.
The minister mooted a vigorous
constitutional review, which will deal with all impediments in the way of local councils to fulfilling their constitutionally recognised mandate.
Fagbemi said: “To achieve this, many experts have proposed that there is need for the scrapping of the state independent electoral commission.
“Their functions and powers should be transferred to the independent national electoral commission because the state independent electoral commission remains an appendage to every incumbent governor.
“This is perceived as the root cause of the problem of local government administration in Nigeria.”
