The union stating this during a press conference in Akure, Ondo state capital, said to return the mandate to conduct Local Government Council elections to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) saying State Electoral Commission cannot guarantee credible election.
Speaking on behalf of the Union, the State Chairman of NULGE, Mr Bunmi Eniayewu, said the system where Chairman of local government areas appointed at the whims and caprices of the governors is not acceptable and said “caretaker committee is an aberration at the local government levels.”
He noted that no opposition party has ever won in any local government elections across the country saying the ruling party usually win elections to the local government because “he who pays the piper dictates the tune”.
He said that the elections conducted by SIECs into the councils in most states were mere appointments and not democratic elections as provided for by the constitution and said “we cannot get it right at the councils’ level, unless the INEC take over the local government election.”
Eniayewu also advocated that the Joint Account Allocation Council (JAAC) should be abolished, while he said the fund for Local Government Areas should come directly from the federation account and not from the states.
He noted that most states government have taken over the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of their states which should belong to the local government, saying, “the people of this country must resist the killing of the local government while local governments should be given autonomy.”
According to him, “most state governors opposed the granting of autonomy to local government because they are thieves and this will prevent them from stealing the wealth of the local governments,”
He commended lawmakers in the state House of Assembly across the country for supporting the local government autonomy and expressed optimism that most of them would throw their weight behind the actualisation of the local government autonomy.
Eniayewu also condemned the sack of over 22,000 workers by the Kaduna state governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, under the guise of competency test, saying the ruling party had failed to live up to its promise of opening up room for employment opportunities in the state.
He faulted the sincerity of the el-Rufai over the competency test conducted for primary school teachers and said the intention of the governor was not to test the teachers’ competency but was targeted in downsizing the state work force.
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