Former Akwa Ibom State Deputy Governor and MD,Niger Delta Development Commission NDDC, Mr. Nsima Ekere has called on the National Assembly to facilitate the constitutional amendment empowering the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC to conduct local government election saying that such will eliminate the influence of the State governors in rigging elections.
Ekere who stated this on weekend at his Ikot-Abasi residence described governors as emperors in their areas who have powers to hinder Council free and fair elections.
According to him, “Governors are incapable of conducting free and fair elections; I have always said that the National Assembly should hand over the conduct of LG elections to INEC, you can imagine a state where the Governor is PDP, PDP will win all the elections and likewise APC and even APGA.’’
On his assessment of the concluded Council polls in Akwa Ibom, Ekere expressed dissatisfaction over the election saying that the entire process was a slap to the democratic integrity of the state.
He maintained that it was appalling that no election was held in his area and some other areas in the state, yet election results were announced in those areas.
His words, ‘As at 2pm no material was issued to my unit. They already computed the results and even in my ward that AKISIEC did not bring materials, the results were announced.
“Already the PDP government which is controlling the State wrote the result. You should also hear that some PDP members were arrested by the DSS while thumb printing ballot papers on Friday, a day before the elections.
“So I and the membership of the APC in the state reject the process of this election. It is not acceptable to us. Elections especially at the local level should be done in a transparent manner to deepen democracy.
“The entire process showed that the PDP led Akwa Ibom state government was not ready for the elections. Akwa Ibom people have rejected the PDP and it is this fear that has made them not to allow elections to take place in the state.
“This is also why I am opposed to state police because the Governors will abuse it by using it against their political opponents. So things like this are better handled by the Federal Government.”
Also speaking, an Observer group, the Coalition of Civil Society said their observation revealed that there was no election in the state.
The Head of the Group, Mr Alli Abaca, said that when their team visited some polling units across the state, it was observed that there were no voting materials.
