Barrister Abiola Olagunju is the Chairman of Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC). In this interaction with Taiwo Adisa, he declares that state electoral commissions should not be tarred with a black brush that nullifies the essence of constitutional provisions. He declares that when the functions are properly harnessed, SIECS are better placed to make INEC a better institution. Excerpts:
There is usually a problem with the operations of State Electoral Commissions (SIECs), this winner takes all syndrome and that has led the National Assembly into thinking about an amendment of the constitution to allow INEC take over conduct of local government elections. You have operated at this level and conducted local government elections, how do you see the operations vis-à-vis the adherence to constitutional provisions?
I have to answer this question by personalizing it because that is my experience as I don’t know the operation of other states. But as regards Oyo State, right from 2020 when I was sworn in and till date, I have enjoyed fantastic relationship with the Executive. Most importantly, I must say it loud and clear that there has not been interference of the Executive in the conduct of our elections – the one we held in 2021 and 2024, which gladdens my heart more than anything. When I was appointed to be the chairman of this commission, the first question I asked the governor was to know if he would allow me to conduct election in accordance with the rule of law. And so far, so good, I have no regret for taking this assignment on my own part.
But looking at the concerns being shown by the public about conduct of local government elections, even by OYSIEC, vis-à-vis the planned interference by the National Assembly, would you say it is justified?
As I said earlier, we need to be subjective. The SIEC is the creation of the constitution and the main objective of the commission is to conduct local government elections — the Chairmen and the Councilors. It is not that all is perfect, I agree and there are areas of improvement. Even, let us look at the elections being conducted by the INEC, you can see that there are also complaints. The ones that were just held in Ondo and Edo States, there were complaints. I have been able to understand that this country, whether you like it or not, people will always complain but do your own part. Do what the law says you should do and discharge your conscience so that you can be free because there will always be concerns. Let me give you one instance that made us have seeming peace in Oyo State now. When we were to conduct the second LG election in 2024, in 2023, by the dictate of the Electoral Act 2020, we were supposed to give 365 days’ notice for you to have an election. And without recourse to the governor, what I did was to call the commissioners and advert their minds to the provision of the constitution and a judgement of Supreme Court in Osun State – the ACN against Osun State Electoral Commission, as it then was, which says that giving notices of election must be governed by the provisions of the Electoral Act. At that time, when the decision was made, the Electoral Act says that they must give 90 days and they gave 21 days and the Supreme Court said, no, ‘you were wrong, you were supposed to give 90 days when you gave 21 days, you must abide by the provisions of the Electoral Act’. And in this case, when the new Electoral Act says we should give 365 days, what am I supposed to do? Will I now abide by the provisions of the constitution or not? So what I did was to call the commissioners and we issued the notice exactly one year ahead. It was after the notice was published that the governor called me, and said that he heard we had issued notice of the LG election and I said, yes, because the law states that we should give one year notice ahead and he was very happy. I am a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), so, I must do whatever I want to do by the dictate of the law. That’s an aspect. See the imbroglio that happened that happened after the ruling of the Supreme Court on Local Government autonomy and the directive from the Attorney General that states that federal allocations to states that do not have democratically elected governments should be stopped. Oyo State was not affected because we have done all we were supposed to do.
Do you have a conference of SIECs of 36 states to look at some of the complaints generally expressed against the commissions and especially the concerns by the National Assembly, which is leading them to pursue an amendment of the law?
Of course, we have a national forum, which we call Forum of State Independent Electoral Commission of Nigeria (FOSIECON) and all these issues are being discussed adequately. We meet every month. Even, we have sent to National Assembly to see that the problem is not FOSIECON but the executives in some states and the politicians themselves. The SIECs may wish to have an election, but may be frustrated by the executive for different reasons. One, by not releasing funds, which is very important, though I don’t have that experience. I know of a state that did not release funds until a week to the election. Tell me, which magic do you want the SIEC to perform? And in some states, they were being directed to issue results. But here, I have absolute freedom and I thank God and the governor for that.
So you would agree that those who have raised issues about the performance of SIECS are justified?
In some states, they are justified and I agree with you. But the solution is not to scrap SIESs because the election being conducted by the INEC itself is not perfect and we are talking about democracy. Now, we have done something in Oyo State that has never been done before. We have conducted local government elections twice. So, no governor will come in the state and say he wants to appoint caretaker committee. It is not possible because we have laid that foundation. Anybody that is coming in as a governor now will know that before the expiration of the current chairman and councilors, notices should be issued on time.
Are you concerned about this trend whereby the party in power in the state wins almost all chairmanship and councillorship seats?
You can say that it is a general trend in the country but by my own experience, I will say that it is being allowed by the opposition parties. In the two elections we conducted in Oyo State, the opposition parties were not visible, unlike what we had in the national election. So, this gives the ruling party the avenue to ensure their candidates win the elections. That is just it. You can only count the votes that were cast on the day of election. In my own state, for example, it is all the votes that were cast that we counted. Not that we recorded any vote before. But unfortunately, the opposition, due to one thing or the other, doesn’t turn up. In the 2021 LG election in this state, they boycotted the exercise, hoping that they would be restored by the Supreme Court judgment. In 2024, they did not bring a formidable opposition. So, this gives the ruling party the leeway to record landslide victory. But if you look at the trend in some states, you could see that it is getting better because some parties were winning about 6 LGAs, unlike before.
I have spoken to at least three chairmen of political parties in this state about the last election and virtually all of them said they were cajoled to participate in the election. They added that they had several meetings with you and you assured them the election would be free and fair but that they were disappointed about the result of the election…
I said there was no strong opposition in the state except one opposition party, the rest are not opposition parties. You can see that the same person that was the chairman of a political party in 2021 is still the same person in 2024. Some will even move from being Chairman to Secretary. So, there is no consistency in those opposition parties and that is the truth. If I have my way, I won’t let our political parties be more than three in this country. Many of the parties are not serious and cannot provide strong opposition.
So you were in support of the two-party system the country ran under the Babangida regime?
Two party system with independent candidates, should be okay. Many of the groups you call political parties are just political parties by name but they are not there.
What do you see as the future of SIECs, going by the threat of amendments in the National Assembly as well as plans by the NASS to take over the conduct of council elections?
Sincerely, I need to appeal to the executive in the states. Let us do things the way they should be done. I must commend Governor Makinde for what he has done for OYSIEC in Oyo State. People should know that there is no way illegality can continue forever, it is just a matter of time. It will catch up with them. If they are all doing it right, the state has a bright future but if they are still doing it by gerrymandering or by Winner-takes-all, without allowing the wish of the people to prevail, it is just a matter of time. Notwithstanding, we must look at it generally. How is INEC performing?
Our constitution is very clear; that by section 7, there must be democratically elected chairmen in all the local government areas election. By Section 197, there must be State Independent Electoral Commissions, which means there should not be interference. Whatever is due to be given to SIECs, just like the Judiciary, should be given to them on time.
You have talked about the challenges of INEC as an institution, is there a way the SIECs can somehow help INEC in the conduct of its activities?
We are also part of INEC in a way because, by the provision of the Constitution, we can advise INEC, when it comes to registration of voters. Anytime we want to do any programme, they also assist us too to do our own election. We collaborate in terms of logistics and any time they need our advice on any issue, they always get back to us. Definitely, our relationship is symbiotic in a way, but they are in upper class while we are lower. But we are useful to each other and our operations can make them better.
Your offices are virtually empty after elections, what else do you do aside conducting elections?
Since I came in as Chairman of OYSIEC, our activities go beyond conducting elections. Now, we have a proposed bill that has been sent to executive to amend the OYSIEC law. We have lined up training for our staff on Local Government Administration. We are going through the end of the year but we have submitted the budget. Hopefully, by February, we should start and things will get better. Of course, we can’t compare the influx of people into the commission during the time of election with the current situation. It is not that we are sleeping. No. We have other things we do especially on the amendment of our laws in collaboration with the executive.
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