Civil society organisation, Yiaga Africa, has kicked against the call to abolish the State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs).
The organisation cautioned, that scrapping the state electoral bodies would have far-reaching and devastating consequences for Nigeria’s democracy.
In a statement made available to newsmen, Yiaga Africa’s Executive Director, Samson Itodo emphasised 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.
Itodo said; “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 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.
According to him; “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.”
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 emphasised that instead of scrapping them, efforts must be made towards strengthening SIECs as a way out of complaints against them.
“We need to address the underlying issues and strengthen SIECs through legal and institutional reforms,” Itodo submitted.