Autonomy: Senate Moves To Establish Agency For LG Elections

The Senate has passed the first reading of a proposed Bill that aims to create a federal agency responsible for overseeing local government elections.

Naija News reports that the Bill, known as the “Local Government Independent Electoral Commission (Establishment) Bill, 2024,” was introduced by Senator Sani Musa, who serves as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance.

Earlier, the Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, declared that the Federal Government is not superior to states in exercising each other’s constitutional roles.

Makinde made this known in Ibadan at an emergency consultative meeting with stakeholders on Monday to appraise last week’s Supreme Court judgement, which granted financial autonomy to the local government areas across the nation.

He maintained that the judgment had created a constitutional lacuna that would throw up different challenges at the local government level.

However, a spokesman for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Felix Morka, has stated that the Supreme Court’s verdict on LG autonomy was not enough, stressing that some electoral reforms have to be put in place for the verdict to be effective.

He argued that the third tier of government, cannot be said to have formidable administrations when governors still “handpick” chairmen for local governments in their states.

The APC chieftain said this on Tuesday during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme.

He said, “In my understanding, the Supreme Court was right on the mark to give local governments access to funds meant for them. I don’t think this matter should engage the kind of controversy that I am seeing.

“I agree that the entire system for regulating how elections are conducted in the local governments has to be properly revisited by the state governors and federal authorities

“They need to come together and figure out a way to create a system and to regulate the conduct of elections that blends itself to some level of scrutiny, objectivity and independence as well because giving financial autonomy is one thing but if the same governors handpick those who serve, then we are not yet there. We need to make some reforms to that electoral process.”