TO ensure credible council election, former Oyo State governor, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala has called for the scrapping of State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs).
He said council elections would only be credible and acceptable if they are conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
He also threw his weight behind a resolution by the House of Representatives advocating for the scrapping of SIECs.
According to him, the conduct of local government elections by INEC will ensure uniformity and promptness in the exercise, as INEC will abide by the constitutional provisions guiding the conduct of local government elections unlike what obtains with the SIEC.
Alao- Akala frowned at a situation whereby local government elections are held at the convenience of governors, an action, he strongly believes, is detrimental to the growth of democracy at the grassroots level, as well as an aberration to constitutional provisions.
In a statement on his behalf by his media aide, Abraham Ojo, he said the electorate have always yearned for democratic rule at the grassroots level, but have been denied it by some governors who choose to appoint their loyalists as Caretaker Committee Chairmen to further their selfish political motives.
Alao-Akala stressed that elected local government chairmen would be more sensitive to the needs and aspirations of the electorate “as against an appointed Caretaker Chairman, who will always dance to the tune of the governor, knowing full well that his tenure is at the whims and caprices of the governor, who appointed him”.
The former governor and one of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders in the state, had at various public fora canvassed for the scrapping of SIEC to allow for the takeover of the conduct of local government elections by INEC.
While making reference to two occasions in Osun and Oyo, where he had earlier made the advocacy, Alao-Akala concluded that it was only INEC that could conduct local government elections without any inhibitions or control by the governors.
