INEC should conduct LG polls to ensure transparency – Doguwa

House of Representatives member Alhassan Ado Doguwa (APC, Doguwa/Tudun Wada federal constituency) has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to conduct elections for the third tier of government to ensure transparency.

In a statement that he made available to journalists on Monday, the lawmaker advocated the need to deepen democracy at the grassroots, insisting that the only way to do that is for the national electoral umpire to take charge.

Some laws governing the local government administration needed to be reviewed, according to Doguwa, who is the chairman of the House Committee on Petroleum (Downstream).

He expressed hope that a functional local government system would curb the ever-worsening urban migration.

“INEC is the only reliable electoral umpire. We must quickly review our electoral and constitutional laws to provide for INEC to conduct local council elections; otherwise, local council elections in Nigeria will continue to be a caricature of what they should be.

“Our electoral system, our constitutional instruments and our participatory democratic processes can only be guaranteed under elections conducted by the INEC.

“It will further entrench the philosophical wisdom of the recent Supreme Court’s pronouncement and judgement on the autonomy of the third tier of government in Nigeria,” he added.