Local Government Council in Nigeria shall be democratically constituted according to Section 7(1) of the 1999 constitution as amended. Can a Local Government Council enjoy autonomy when elections are not conducted at that level? It is worrisome and un-imaginable, that since March 2019 when the tenure of the immediate past SIEC chairman expired and he has since left office, there have not been any replacement in term of appointing a new chairman and other commissioners who tenure has also expired.
It is ridiculous that an agency that is statutorily constituted by law could not be constituted by a government and a governor that is put in place by law. It is unbelievable that the tenure of chairman of an election body, that has expired since March 2019 and we are now in October, no appointment have been made, and no nomination to that effect is pending before the Kogi State House of Assembly.
Why is the current administration destroying Local Government Council in Kogi State? Is there any moral justification for someone that has refuse to conduct Local Government election, is now contesting election in the same atmosphere where he refuse to conduct one.
Budgetary provisions are not made for the conduct of Local Government elections since the emergence of the current administration in Kogi State, for a government that has receive statutorily Billons of naira on behalf of the 21 local government in the State, in the last three(3) and half years, could not conduct local government elections.
Who makes laws for Local Government or perform oversight functions? It is the Kogi State House of Assembly. What is the tenure of the current administrators in Kogi State? What is the Budget of 2019 in respect of the Local Government in Kogi State, when and where was it approved? Where is the reports of the appropriation meant for the Local Government Council in 2018?
What is the rationale behind the current destructions of Local Government System in Kogi State?
We call on the Kogi State Governor to immediately constitute the State Independent Electoral Commission and put machinery in place for the conduct of elections into the Local government council according to the provisions of the 1999 constitutions as amended.
We wish to let the Kogi State House of Assembly know that they are legally constituted and constitutionally mandated to make laws for the good of people of Kogi State, who gave them their mandate and therefore cannot substitute that mandate for politics in the name of loyalty to an individual, as Kogi State as an entity is bigger than any individual or groups.
We wish to conclude that, those who destroy to succeed will have destruction awaiting them at the door of their success.
Signed:
Idris Miliki Abdul
Executive Director,
Conscience for Human Rights and Conflict Resolution (CHRCR),
Lokoja, Kogi State.
