The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Thursday declared that it can comfortably conduct local government elections in Nigeria.
The INEC chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, who stated this when he appeared before the joint Senate and House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters on preparations for the upcoming governorship elections in Edo and Ondo States, noted that it can undertake the task if the responsibility falls on it.
Yakubu noted that INEC has the capacity to handle the local government elections, but that would only be possible pending when the law is amended to permit it to do so.
He asserted that the Commission had been conducting area council elections in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, which has been bereft of the challenge associated with the conduct of local government elections.
He stated the advantages the commission has in handling elections to include that there are regular elections as when due, stability of tenure, and also that there has never been a caretaker committee in the FCT.
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He noted that there has never been a time one political party has won all the seats at the elections as is common in the states.
Recall that earlier this month, the Supreme Court affirmed the financial autonomy of the 774 local government areas in the country.
The move has since been received with praises as it hopes to resuscitate the local councils.
The local government administrations have been subjects of controversy over the years, as they have seemingly come under the control of the state governors who in many instances have appointed caretakers and administrators without elections to handle the affairs of the local councils in their states.
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