A Port Harcourt based legal practitioner and a public affairs analyst, Chioma Choko is advocating for the amendment of a section of the Independence National Electoral Commission Law 2000, that empowers state governors to appoint the chairman and members of State Electoral Umpires.
Mr Choko made the call in an interview with our reporter while speaking on ways to resolve issues associated with Local Government polls in the country.
He said the current situation does not allow for healthy competition among political parties.
” One of the basic problems associated with Local Government election is the appointment process of electoral umpire in each of the state in Nigeria. The basic problem is that the governor appoints or decides who becomes the electoral Umpires in the state. By so doing, the governor decide what becomes the outcome of that particular election through the electoral Umpire”
Mr Choko further said that in order to stop or solve that particular problem, the appointment process must be altered in such a way that each of the state should have an independent body that decides the process through which the electoral umpire of that particular state becomes the umpire of that state.
He also called for Local Government autonomy to bring about development at the grassroot across the country.
” Every other institution is clamouring for Independence. The Local Government should also follow suit. And they should be severed from the various 36 states in this nation. The Local Government is capable financially and otherwise and to manage our financial resources and whatever thing it has to” he stated.
He further said that Local Government operates ordinary in principle as an independent body, but because of the attachment of their financial allocation to that of the state, the Local Government does not operate independently.
