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We Can Conduct LG Elections If Given Responsibility – INEC Boss

Published

2 years ago

July 25, 2024

Gloria Ikibah

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…reiterate readiness of commission for Edo, Ondo Gubernatorial elections

By Gloria Ikibah

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has disclosed that it can comfortably conduct local government elections if given the responsibility.

Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, stated this when he appeared before the Joint Senate and House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters on preparations for the upcoming governorship elections in Edo and Ondo States on Thursday in Abuja.

He explained that INEC has the capacity to handle the local government elections but that would only be possible pending when the law is amended to permit it to do so.

He highlighted that the Commission had been conducting area council elections in the Federal Capital Territory which has been devoid of the problems associated with the conduct of local government elections.

Prof. Yakubu noted that some advantages of INEC handling elections includes the conduct of elections as and when due, stability of tenure, and also that there has never been a caretaker committee in the FCT.

The INEC chairman also noted that there has never been a time one political party has won all the seats at the elections as is common in the states.

He said if INEC handles the election, it would be better for democracy.

But however this he said can only happen if the constitution is amended to take the responsibility from State Electoral Commissions.

Yakubu also said it was more challenging to conduct off-cycle elections than general elections.

He also raised security concerns in the Edo State election with the likely deployment of the Edo State Security Network for the polls.

The INEC boss said the flood that affected the Edo office soaked their BVAS machines but that they recover most of them.

He also pointed out that the power of incumbency was a major challenge against the conduct of elections.

He said, “You wanted to know the position of the Commission on issues surrounding the Supreme Court judgement and local government elections, the position of the Commission. So far we have had three broad positions canvassed. One, the transfer of responsibility for the conduct of local government elections to INEC. The question is if that is done, can INEC cope? The second proposition we have had is that there should be a new federal electoral commission for local government elections and thirdly there is another argument that says leave the state electoral commission to conduct local government elections in the spirit of federalism but find a way of ensuring that they improve on the conduct of local government elections.

“Right now the law has not been amended. The same Constitution that creates INEC also creates the States Electoral Commissions. So it is up to the National Assembly to amend the law to transfer that responsibility to the INEC. If the responsibility for the conduct of local government election is transferred to INEC, can INEC cope? The answer is yes! INEC can cope.

“What are we? By definition, INEC is the Independent National Electoral Commission but right now we do national elections, we do state elections, we do local government elections. A national electoral commission may be expected to handle only the Presidential and National Assembly elections but we also do governorship elections, we do State Assembly elections and do the Area Councils Elections in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the only part of the country where INEC conducts local government elections.

“So, if we are asked to do these elections, yes we can and actually our track record actually proves that we can do it. Check the case of FCT and I would like to say one or two things about the FCT local government elections. There are six Area Councils in the FCT. Like I said there are six chairmen in the FCT, there are 62 wards in the FCT. Each Ward is a councillorship Constituency for the election of Councilors and this is one part of the country that INEC has conducted local government elections and it has resulted in the following:

“Number one, it is perhaps only part of the country where local government elections are held regularly as at when due, elections are held in the FCT. Number two, there has never been a Caretaker Committee for any Area Council in the FCT, INEC has been conducting the election regularly. Number three, there is stability of tenure, it used to be three years but in 2022, the National Assembly amended the Electoral Act to provide for a four year tenure for Area Councils in the FCT. Number four, no single political party has ever won elections in all the constituencies in the FCT. In fact, what is interesting now is that out of the six chairmen of the FCT; APC had three Area Councils, PDP has three Area Councils. So there is no election where one party has dominated.

“Perhaps this is what has been encouraging many Nigerians to say that if INEC is saddled with the responsibility of conducting local government elections the same thing will be replicated and it is good for our democracy. But as I said, the same section of the Constitution that creates INEC also creates the SIECs so until the Constitution is amended and it transfers the responsibility to the commission, this is what our position is.

“In any case, if you transfer local government elections to INEC what it means is that you are going to transfer almost 10,000 Constituencies to INEC. We have 8,809 wards, each ward is a councillorship constituency. We have 774 local government areas and each local government has a chairman. So if you add this to the existing 1, 591 constituencies where INEC conducts elections is well over 11,000 constituencies but the election may not be held all in one day.

“So, in terms of capacity to do it, INEC can do it. We have been doing it in the Federal Capital Territory, we have no issues. But if the decision of the National Assembly is to amend the Constitution to saddle INEC with that responsibility, then we need an engagement with the National Assembly. There are certain consequential amendments that have to be done for us to handle those additional responsibilities. For instance, who is going to fund the 10,000 new Constituencies that INEC will be saddled with? There is a need for a discussion to determine who is going to fund it. Or will the Federal government continue to fund for the states?

You have to do something about the bye-elections. If INEC is saddled with additional 10,000 Constituencies we will probably be doing bye-elections every week.

“But broadly speaking, if you ask us if we can handle local government elections, yes we can handle the local government elections. When is it going to happen? When you amend the law and empower the commission to do so”, Yakubu stated.

He said so far out of 13 activities outlined and leading to the election as required by law from publication of notice for elections to conduct of election, eight has been implemented.

He stated: “We are on the ninth activity and not one activity has been shifted by one day. We have implemented those activities in Edo and Ondo seamlessly. The ninth activity is the submission of names of polling agents by political parties. For Edo, by the end of this month 30th July but for Ondo would be 30th of September.

“The Commission is prepared for the election. We are prepared. In terms of preparation we don’t anticipate much problems in spite of the unfortunate case of flooding in our Edo office. Not for the first time. In 2020 we actually operated from a rented facility but this time around thank God the act of God came early so we have enough time to respond and to conduct the election in our facilities.

“What is our concern for the Edo State governorship election is security.

When we were there one of the political parties raised an issue in Edo about the likely deployment of the ESSN. The Edo State Security Network. But immediately we received the complaint, we headed to the office of the Commissioner of Police and summoned a meeting with all security agencies in Edo state. We agreed to meet with all political parties and at that meeting we agreed to meet with all the political parties which we did the following day and the Commissioner of Police told us and the party leaders that he would take up the matter with the state government.

“The issue at that time was the ongoing continuous voter registration and since then I am not aware of any official complaints from any party or candidate on the role of the ESSN. I believe that the Commissioner of Police must have spoken to the leadership of the ESSN so far so good.

“We have conducted the continuous voter registration. A few of the registered voters require validation. We have 82 in Edo and 164 in Ondo. We started validation for these voters on Monday. As at yesterday we achieved 72 percent success for the validation.

“We are doing so because after the registration we are required by law to display the registers for claims and objections by citizens and also to do the Automated Biometrics Identification System.

“We are not happy with the quality of the biometrics for this 246 registered voters in the states out of over 260, 000 voters. So the number is actually 0.03 percent. It is the right of every registered Nigerian to be able to vote seamlessly during the election and it is our responsibility to ensure that every citizen is given the opportunity. By next week we would publish for Edo State, the final outcome of the continuous voter registration.

“The second concern is what we often grapple with. For the Commission it is more difficult to conduct off-cycle governorship elections than it is to conduct general elections. These off-cycle elections are very difficult and very challenging for us. For the simple reason that you have one stage conducting governorship elections and all the political parties would form their campaign councils and would deploy all the governors, all the honourable members in support of their colleagues.

“It becomes very challenging for us. But in the Nigerian election, all of you would be in your various constituencies fighting your own battles. But this one you would descend on a small constituency which makes the management of the process extremely difficult. Even accommodation becomes very difficult. In Osun for instance I was stranded because the politicians actually took over all the hotels when we went for the signing of the peace accord. I managed to get one room. The following day I had to rush to Akure to get back to Abuja. So it is more difficult because there is pressure on all facilities.

“Thirdly, the power of incumbency is used to the advantage or disadvantage of parties and candidates and this is a clear violation of the provision of the electoral act that prohibits the use of the power of incumbency to the advantage or disadvantage of any political party or candidate whether it is outdoor advertisement or campaign in the state media or the use of state facilities like stadia and public spaces.

“It has been an issue in previous elections. So far so good but it is now the campaign is heating up and this matter is likely to come up. Outside these concerns we have been doing well. For Edo there are 17 political parties fielding candidates. Only one female candidate. Others are male. There is no person with a disability in Edo State.

“In Ondo State we have 17 candidates. No female candidate. There is one person with disability in Ondo and that is the governorship candidate of the ADC. In Edo we have approved the names of 134 observers to cover the election. 124 are domestic observers and 10 are international observers. We’ll soon start printing the voter register for the two states.

“In Edo in terms of election technology we had a challenge when our office was flooded. The BVAS machines deployed were substantially soaked in water. The good thing is that we were able to recover well over 3500 of a little over 4000 BVAS machines in Edo State. They are all in working order. We are lucky that this is an odd cycle election so we can rely on resources from neighbouring states. So we have called for additional machines from Abia and they arrived in Edo yesterday, 58 days before the election. So we are very good to go on that score,” he added.

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WTO: Deputy Speaker Seeks Action on Food Stockpiling, Investment Deal

Published

3 hours ago

September 19, 2026

Gloria Ikibah

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…urge parliaments to demand accountability

By Gloria Ikibah

Deputy Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu, has urged the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to break the prolonged deadlock over food security and investment facilitation, warning that delays are weakening confidence in the multilateral trading system.

Kalu made the call on Friday in Geneva, Switzerland, while contributing to the 57th Session of the Steering Committee of the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO (PCWTO), attended by WTO Director-General, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, as a special guest.

The session, jointly organised by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the European Parliament, was co-chaired by Hon. Bernd Lange of the European Parliament and IPU Secretary-General, Ms Anda Filip. It brought together parliamentarians from national and regional legislatures, representatives of the European Parliament and IPU, as well as trade policy experts.

The committee reviewed developments in multilateral trade negotiations, follow-up actions from the 14th WTO Ministerial Conference and recommendations from the PCWTO session held in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

The meeting also considered stronger engagement with parliamentary trade committees, increased participation in PCWTO activities, cooperation with business and civil society, and preparations for the 2026–2027 programme.

Kalu acknowledged progress recorded by the WTO on fisheries subsidies and development issues but said the organisation’s credibility would ultimately depend on its ability to deliver tangible outcomes, particularly for developing countries.

He expressed concern that a permanent solution had yet to be reached on public stockholding for food security, 13 years after the commitment made at the 2013 Bali Ministerial Conference.

Nigeria, he noted, had co-sponsored the demand by the African Group, the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group and the G33 for a permanent solution.

He said: “Thirteen years cannot be explained as an ordinary negotiating delay. Behind every delayed outcome are farmers, workers and families living with the consequences of decisions we defer”.

As an interim measure, Kalu proposed that WTO members consider a waiver under Article IX:3 of the Marrakesh Agreement to cover qualifying public stockholding programmes.

He argued that the absence of consensus should not make an explicit treaty mechanism permanently unusable when countries were facing pressing food security needs.

The Deputy Speaker also raised concerns over the Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement, as he said broad support for the agreement had remained stalled by a single formal objection.

He called for greater accountability from national parliaments and proposed that participating legislatures submit reports on concrete actions taken to advance PCWTO and WTO outcomes before each Steering Committee meeting.

“Yaoundé revealed problems that are already well understood. The challenge now is to create political accountability for governments to explain what they are actually doing about them. If credibility is the issue, accountability must be the response.

“I propose that before each Steering Committee meeting, participating parliaments should report on concrete steps taken within their own jurisdictions to advance the outcomes of Yaoundé and MC14, identifying the responsible authority, the action taken, the government’s stated position and the current status.

“Too often, our discussions focus on what Geneva has or has not done. We should devote equal attention to what our own governments and legislatures have done since the last meeting. Accountability must run in both directions.

“We should hold ourselves to the same standard of accountability we ask of Geneva. Nigeria commits to doing so.

“Distinguished colleagues, behind every delayed outcome are farmers, workers and families living with the consequences of decisions we defer.

“The WTO’s credibility is not measured by the sophistication of its rules. It is measured by whether the members who need it most have rational grounds to trust it.

“Nigeria is not here to add to the diagnosis. We are here to help restore that trust”, Kalu said.

He further cautioned that improving attendance at WTO-related meetings alone would not resolve the challenge of parliamentary relevance in global trade governance.

According to him, many legislatures are briefed only after negotiating positions have already been finalised.

Kalu therefore proposed that future PCWTO sessions should be built around focused economic agendas covering contentious issues such as public stockholding, investment facilitation, the e-commerce moratorium and digital trade rules.

He said this would allow parliamentarians to communicate clear conclusions and areas of disagreement to trade ministers ahead of negotiations.

Kalu, who joined the PCWTO Steering Committee in February 2025, also secured a reaffirmation from the IPU Secretary-General of the organisation’s commitment to work with him towards the successful hosting of the PCWTO event scheduled for Abuja in 2027.

He reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to a fair, credible and development-oriented international trading system.
Okonjo-Iweala backs deeper parliamentary role
In her address, Okonjo-Iweala presented an update on WTO reforms covering decision-making, development, special and differential treatment, fairness and dispute settlement.

She noted that while consensus was intended to guarantee an equal voice for all WTO members, its application as unanimity had allowed single objections to block outcomes enjoying broad support.

The WTO Director-General urged parliamentarians to move beyond criticism and put forward practical solutions for rebuilding confidence in the organisation.

She identified greater transparency and improved notifications as possible confidence-building measures and invited written submissions from parliamentarians on the reform process.

Okonjo-Iweala also backed deeper engagement between parliamentarians and Geneva-based actors, including national WTO representatives, the Chair of the General Council, reform facilitators and committee chairs.

Such engagement, she said, will give legislators a more direct role in the reform debate while preserving the member-driven character of the WTO.

The WTO chief acknowledged concerns that the multilateral trading system had not served many developing and poorer countries effectively.

She defended the continued relevance of special and differential treatment and called for a more credible framework that takes different levels of development among WTO members into account.

Okonjo-Iweala also underscored the importance of investment facilitation for developing economies and confirmed that restoring an effective two-tier dispute settlement system remained on the reform agenda, even if its eventual design differs from the previous arrangement.
The discussions came amid wider efforts to reform the multilateral trading system. The WTO has recently warned that global trade is at a critical juncture, with geopolitical tensions and disagreements over trade rules placing additional pressure on the organisation.

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Just in: APC Demands Atiku Quit 2027 Race Over $500,000 Mambilla Payment

Published

7 hours ago

September 18, 2026

EMMANUEL AGAJI

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The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council has called on African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar to withdraw from the 2027 presidential race over a controversial $500,000 payment made to his former wife, Jennifer Douglas, during negotiations surrounding the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project.

The demand followed revelations from a final award issued by a three-member International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitration tribunal in Paris in the long-running dispute between Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited and the Federal Government.

The tribunal ruled in favour of Nigeria, rejecting Sunrise Power’s claims and ordering the company and its promoter, Leno Adesanya, to reimburse Nigeria for 75 per cent of its legal costs.

At the centre of the controversy is a $500,000 transfer made by Adesanya on January 30, 2003, through China Castle Investments Limited, an offshore company he controlled, into Douglas’s Citibank account in the United States.

The payment came less than four months before Sunrise was purportedly awarded a 3,960-megawatt Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) contract for the Mambilla project in Taraba State.

Tribunal Questions $500,000 Payment

During the arbitration, Adesanya told the tribunal that the $500,000 was part of a foreign-exchange transaction carried out on behalf of Atiku.

However, the tribunal did not accept the explanation, noting the absence of documentary evidence showing the underlying naira payment, exchange rate, instructions from Atiku or his aides, correspondence relating to the transaction or records establishing its commercial purpose.

The tribunal also noted that neither Atiku nor Douglas testified or submitted witness statements to corroborate Adesanya’s account.

It further questioned the explanation because the payment was made during the period when Sunrise was pursuing the Mambilla project and months before the company was purportedly awarded the contract.

The tribunal’s findings, however, concerned the evidence and claims before it in the arbitration; they did not establish in the award that Atiku personally received a bribe.

Mambilla Contract Controversy

The Mambilla project, initially conceived in 1982 as a 3,050MW hydropower scheme, later became the subject of negotiations involving Sunrise and its Chinese partner.

Sunrise expressed interest in developing the project from 2001 and subsequently submitted proposals to the Federal Government.

A technical committee eventually recommended Sunrise for the 3,960MW project in March 2003.

Former Minister of Power Olu Agunloye later issued a letter which Sunrise relied upon as evidence that it had been awarded the project.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, however, maintained that the Federal Executive Council never approved the contract and that he directed the withdrawal of the relevant memorandum.

The disputed letter subsequently became central to Sunrise’s multibillion-dollar arbitration claims against Nigeria.

APC Accuses Atiku of Conflict of Interest

Reacting to the tribunal’s findings, APC Presidential Campaign Council spokesman Dele Alake accused Atiku and Agunloye of working together to facilitate the disputed Sunrise contract.

Alake described the $500,000 payment as an alleged bribe connected to the Mambilla deal and argued that its timing raised questions about a possible conflict of interest involving Atiku, who was vice-president at the time.

The APC spokesman also criticised Atiku for not appearing as a witness before the tribunal, saying his testimony could have helped clarify the circumstances surrounding the payment.

The campaign council subsequently demanded that Atiku withdraw from the 2027 presidential contest.

Long-Running Mambilla Legal Battle

The dispute over the Mambilla project has continued for years.

Sunrise previously pursued billions of dollars in claims against Nigeria, alleging breaches relating to the proposed project.

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Niger Deaths: Survivor Alleges Substance Was Sprayed in Cell Before Detainees Collapsed

Published

7 hours ago

September 18, 2026

EMMANUEL AGAJI

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A surviving miner has alleged that an unidentified substance was sprayed inside a detention cell shortly before several suspected illegal miners began collapsing while in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Niger State.

The survivor made the allegation while recounting his experience in detention during a visit to the state by the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo.

According to the miner, detainees were locked inside a cell before an unidentified substance was sprayed into the facility.

He alleged that shortly after the substance was released, some of the detainees began experiencing difficulties before collapsing.

«“They sprayed something inside the cell after locking us in, and people began collapsing,” the survivor reportedly said.»

The allegation comes amid growing scrutiny over the circumstances surrounding the deaths of suspected illegal miners who were detained by security authorities in Niger State.

The survivor did not identify the substance allegedly sprayed inside the cell, nor did he state who allegedly authorised or carried out the action.

He also did not provide details on the number of detainees who were affected or establish whether the alleged spraying directly caused any of the reported deaths.

The NSCDC and other relevant authorities have yet to publicly respond to the specific allegation.

The account is likely to intensify calls for a thorough investigation into the treatment of the detainees and the circumstances surrounding the deaths.

Establishing what happened inside the cell would require further investigation, including determining the identity of the substance allegedly used, who introduced it into the facility and whether there was any link between the incident and the subsequent collapse or deaths of detainees.