The first Nigerian election came
on by the Elective Principles of 1922. This means that elections pre date the
amalgamation and the independence of the country. In spite of the tight rules
which governed the early elections, the gains cannot effortlessly be ignored.
It provided the pre independent day Nigerians the chance of having
representatives in the decision assembly organs of the colonial government.
An
election represents a procedure of choosing one or more individuals to occupy
identified positions. The selection of one out of many others, does not exclude
the right of others to the position or office.
There
are specific conditions expected to apply in an election. It is not just
anybody that can be given a public office to occupy. The person must not be
coerced to accept the position; rather, the person must take interest in
delivering services to the immediate society or the electorate. In the context
of democratic governance, election is a government administered process by
which people seek a political party’s nomination to public offices.
Elections
are basic pillars of democracy and central to the process of democratic
political participation. At the grassroot levels, election serves as the
basic mechanism for the recruitment of individuals for a systematic succession
in government. This is the main reason the 10th edition of the
Encyclopedia Americana imprints election as a process for sorting out leaders
by the vote of those qualified to partake in an election. Therefore, any
government that claims to draw authority from the votes of the people cannot
sweep under the carpet, the benefits of conducting elections.
Consequently,
the Akwa Ibom State government has taken the bull by the horns to formally
allow the people the mandate of having their representatives in local
government councils. It is on record that since the inception of the present
administration, in 2015, the administrative batons of the 31 local councils
have been on short-term appointment of political public office holders. Some
nomenclatures have been adopted as Transition members and at another instant as
Caretaker Committee members. From which ever angle, the directive of the
appointed political office holders at the council levels is not without
restrictions.
With
all sincerity, the political office holders come out to be reluctantly
accountable to the people to some extents. The truth is that the appointees by
no means campaigned for the offices. They on no account bargained to serve. The
voters never presented them with lists of demands. Perhaps, it is only the
ritual oath of office and allegiance that they appear to partially respect. Regrettably, at some points, some of the
political office appointees for local council positions completely forget the
tenets of the oath they took as soon as they are ushered into offices. The bad qualities of leadership
exhibited by some local council caretaker committee members or transition
members are not restricted to those in Akwa Ibom state. Across states of
Nigeria, there are complains on the laxity, negligence and indiscipline of
local government council office holders.
Aside
from building local government administration by experimenting with the
transition or caretaker members, Governor Udom Emmanuel has been making it loud
and clear from fora to fora that his administration would conduct local
government elections to guarantee democratic governance at the grassroots.
So,
it is now or never for the people of Akwa Ibom state to rise in unison and
support the Udom Emmanuel-led administration to correct once and for all, the
impediments and chase the ghost of indiscipline and poor administration in the
councils. This, we can only do, through active participation in the coming
local government elections.
The
members of the Commissions need cooperation rather than petitions to damage
character and integrity the chairman of AKISIEC rated as seasoned with
morals and impeccable disposition.
The
members of the AKISIEC have a huge task before them to justify the confidence
imposed on them by braining experience to bear in conducting the forth coming
elections without blemish. They can only come to success by being vested with
the laws and regulations governing the conduct of elections at the state level
rather than assuming and end up passing the buck.
In
all point of view, the state government has prepared its part in breathing air
in AKISIEC with tested human resources. Now the ball is right in the court of
the political parties, the aspirants and their supporters to consent to an
enabling situation. All forms of bitterness and animosity must be thrown to the
deep seas in the interest of the entire state.
No comments:
Post a Comment