A leading civil society organization, Yiaga Africa, has raised a red flag over the growing calls to abolish State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs), warning that such a move would have far-reaching and devastating consequences for Nigeria’s democracy.
Yiaga Africa’s Executive Director, Samson Itodo, in a statement emphasized that the proposed abolition of SIECs would be a clear violation of the constitutional principle of state autonomy and a dangerous erosion of the federal structure.
“It’s a recipe for disaster.Concentrating power at the federal level would spell doom for our democracy.
“We can’t afford to undermine the gains we’ve made in our democratic journey.” he said.
Itodo warned that transferring the responsibility of conducting local government elections to the already overburdened Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would lead to shoddy elections and further erode the integrity of the electoral process.
“INEC’s plate is already full, and adding local government elections would be a recipe for chaos.
“We can’t expect INEC to handle more responsibilities without compromising the quality of elections.”he said
Yiaga Africa argued that scrapping SIECs would deal a devastating blow to local democracy and citizen participation in decision-making.
It noted that SIECs, despite their flaws, have played a crucial role in promoting local democracy and ensuring citizen engagement in the electoral process.
Itodo emphasized that strengthening SIECs is the way forward, not scrapping them.
“We need to address the underlying issues and strengthen SIECs through legal and institutional reforms,” he said.
