The Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu has called for financial autonomy for State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs) to enable them conduct timely free and credible councils’ elections.
Yakubu who made the call Thursday, during a parley with members of the Forum of State Independent Electoral Commissions of Nigeria (FOSIECON) in Abuja said, for local council elections to be credible, financial independence of the SIECs must be guaranteed.
He also advocated for a modern law which should be modelled on the electoral act to guide the conduct of local council polls, stressing that such law should be drawn in considerable extent from the national electoral legal framework.
“There is a special relationship between INEC and SIEC. We are both creation of same section of the constitution but we are saddled with different responsibilities. We provide register of political parties and voters to SIEC when they want to conduct council elections and we also share same facilities like ballot boxes.
“The independence of an electoral commission cannot be guaranteed where there is no financial independence. We will work together with you to ensure financial independence for the SIEC to help in the credible conduct of elections”, Yakubu assured.
Earlier, FOSIECON Chairman Igbozuruike Akomas, said the forum’s visit to the Commission was to facilitate the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) it had with INEC during its visit last year.
He commended INEC for the peaceful conduct of the 2019 general elections and stressed the need for the quarterly meeting of the two electoral bodies promised by the Commission’s Chairman in 2018.
James Kwen Abuja
