Oweri—Stakeholders from Imo State, yesterday, called on the Federal Government to create a different electoral umpire to supervise local government elections,alleging that governors have hijacked local government funds.
They took this decision at a town Hall meeting held in Owerri, organized by the SOS Children’s Villages with the support of the European Union.
They said they were worried that there was no level playing ground in the local elections so far conducted in the country.
According to the traditional ruler of Umuekwure in Ngor Okpala council area, Eze George Nwosu was disturbed by what he called the weakness of the electoral institutions saying, “There is need to reform institutions in Nigeria, and give them teeth to bite. There is a need to strengthen our institutions, like the electoral bodies, so that nobody can toy with it. It is because of weak institutions that we cannot punish offenders. So, the time has come to rise and do the needful.”
The Chief Imam of Imo State, Sheikh Suleiman Yusuf Njoku, described the things happening in the electoral process of the country as “unfortunate” adding that “Nigeria today is not the Nigeria we used to know. The society helps the politicians to commit a lot of atrocities. We have been talking about democracy, let us reduce love for material things. It is what is leading us to the many troubles we are into. We should think more of how to have reconciliation with our creator.”
Also, the Imo State Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council, IPAC, Ichie Levi Ekeh, said: “To improve the system, we ought to hurt some people. In the last election, some electoral offenders were arrested and up till now, how many of them were prosecuted? We need to go back to the grassroots. Also, there is a need to stop neglecting the guidelines of the elections, especially by the state electoral body. Again, there is a need for the federal government to create a different body to conduct the local government elections because of the manner a party wins all positions and the state electoral body serves the interest of one person. there’s no level playing ground.”
A member of the Civil Society Organization, CSO, Chimezie Ebosie, believes there is a need to create a coalition to achieve this purpose.
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