A civil society organisation (CSO), Yiaga Africa, has questioned the integrity of the recent local government (LG) elections held across the country, News About Nigeria reports.
The organisation made this known in a statement on Monday.
It stated that some of the recent local government failed election integrity tests, adding that it has plans to release a comprehensive report on some of the council polls at the end of October.
YIAGA described some of the elections as a “travesty”, stressing that they failed the integrity test.
It also noted that most state governments hurriedly carried out local government elections following the Supreme Court verdict on the autonomy of that tier of government.
The statement reads, “Most of the recently held local elections are a travesty of democratic elections and fall short of electoral integrity standards,” the group stated.
“Most state governments have rushed to conduct elections in their respective local governments following the Supreme Court verdict on the autonomy of that tier of government.
“One of the other far-reaching decisions of the Supreme Court was the declaration of the appointment of caretaker committees as illegal.
“In the aftermath of the Supreme Court verdicts, only eight states, of the 36 states, have yet to conduct elections for the local governments. They are: Kogi, Kano, Osun, Kaduna, Katsina, Plateau, Ogun and Ondo States.”
The organisation further called on state executives to stop meddling in the activities of State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs), which are charged with conducting elections in local governments, and maintained that state commissions must guard their constitutionally guaranteed responsibilities by remaining impartial.
