Allegation of predetermined outcome taints the just-conducted Bayelsa State Local Government Area election as the opposition party boycotts the process, writes DANIELS IGONI

IN Nigeria, the local government system is the tier of government closest to the people living in rural areas. Section 7(1) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, says, “The system of local government by democratically elected Local Government Councils is under this Constitution guaranteed; and accordingly, the government of every State shall, subject to Section 8 of this Constitution, ensure their existence under a Law which provides for the establishment, structure, composition, finance and functions of such councils.”

Despite its place guaranteed in the Constitution, election at the third tier of government has, however, not been a regular civic activity in most states of the country. Whenever a Local Government poll takes place in any state, the ruling political party sweeps the election, with the opposition accusing the ruling party of hijacking and manipulating the process. Such is the scenario that played out in Bayelsa State, where the people headed to the poll on April 6, 2024, to elect chairmen, vice chairmen and councillors for the eight local government councils and the 105 wards in the state.

Apart from the challenges of voter apathy and the late arrival of voting materials and personnel of the Bayelsa State Independent Electoral Commission at polling units across the councils, controversy keeps trailing the process and its outcome. The major opposition party, the All Progressives Congress, stayed away from the poll, claiming that the outcome had been predetermined by the state government.

For the Governor Douye Diri administration, this is the first time conducting the council poll. The last council election held in Bayelsa State was in August 2019, during the tenure of Diri’s predecessor, Senator Seriake Dickson. In that balloting, the Peoples Democratic Party won all chairmanship seats and all the councillorship positions as the APC boycotted the poll as with the last election held on April 6, 2024.

After the tenure of those elected council officials expired in August 2022, Diri promptly dissolved them and for about one year, the councils were run without substantive political leadership. The caretaker committees were inaugurated for the eight councils in July 2023, four months before the November 11 governorship poll which he won for a second term in office as governor of the state.

Like in 2019, the PDP swept the 2024 poll, winning all eight council seats and the 105 wards, even as the APC, again, shunned the electoral process and refused to field any candidates.

Although the Labour Party fielded candidates for the election, the party’s governorship candidate for the 2023 general election, Udengs Eradiri, faulted the process. Eradiri described the poll as undemocratic and shameful, saying the entire civic exercise “was fraught with high-handedness, corrupt practices and other irregularities with results already predetermined by the state government.”

He said it was not surprising members of the ruling PDP were all over the streets boasting publicly that the results of the poll, which was yet to be held at the time, had been written to allow only the candidates of their party to clinch all positions.

Eradiri, a former Commissioner for Youth, and later Commissioner for Environment in the state, said the governor had allowed everything he complained about before the last governorship election in the state to characterise the LG poll.

“From a compromised Bayelsa State [Independent] Electoral Commission to a process designed to favour only the ruling PDP, the local government electoral process in Bayelsa State is laughable, non-competitive and undemocratic and will surely become a scam, a sham and a charade,” he said.

The former president of Ijaw Youth Council said it was hypocritical for Diri to advocate for reforms at the Independent National Electoral Commission whenever his party, the PDP, was not in control at the centre but failed to initiate similar electoral reforms for LG poll in Bayelsa State.

He urged the National Assembly to amend the law establishing local government administration to allow the INEC to conduct elections for the third tier of government also.

Eradiri said, “Until the people are allowed to freely elect their leaders at the grassroots, the local government system will continue to serve only the interests of governors and not those of the people. And until local government is restructured to play its functions, the growth and development of this country will continue to slow down.”

Also, the LP chairmanship candidate for Sagbama LGA, Timi Ogosi, alleged that the LG poll was marred by irregularities, alleging that the entire electoral process was hijacked by agents of the PDP with the aid of the police in his council area.

He then threatened to seek redress in the court of law.

Ogosi said, “I want to describe the situation as very poor. Some people are trying to take our state backwards. When I saw the electoral materials being brought, it was as if some persons were hired to come and do rehearsal. They were aided by the Nigeria Police personnel because all the electoral materials were kept in their custody, and all the electoral materials were handed to the PDP people by the police who escorted them in their vehicles. They took it to their various comfort zones to thumbprint.

“From the police station, they came with private vehicles and they started sharing electoral materials. The electoral materials, according to them, were being escorted to various wards but the electoral materials did not get to the wards.

”The only place they tried to play fair was Ward 10 where I come from, even though there was no voting. In fact, in all the polling units there were no ballot boxes, no stamps, no (ink) pads, no results sheets.

“You can’t call that an election. I’m not satisfied with it and will seek redress in court. Some persons will be petitioned for irregularities, for aiding this malpractice; and which must stop in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

Efforts to get the reaction of the state Police Command failed as the state Police Public Relations Officer, Mohammed Musa, did not respond to inquiries, despite several reminders and repeated calls.

Governor Diri, on the election day, voted alongside his wife, Gloria at the Kalamaowei Wari Unit 4, Ward 6 in Sampou community, Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area did not see any wrongdoing in the conduct of the poll, as he expressed satisfaction with the peaceful conduct across the state.

The governor also applauded BYSIEC for organising a credible LG poll.

Fielding questions from journalists, Governor Diri boasted that the PDP was the only party with wide acceptance and vigorously campaigned across the state ahead of the election.

He said, “PDP enjoys the support of the people and, judging from the outcome of the November 11, 2023 governorship election, our party will still take the upper hand.”

Speaking on why the APC in the state did not participate in the election, Diri stated that only the faction led by Dennis Otiotio under the control of Timipre Sylva boycotted the poll and that the party had more than one faction.

“I don’t know their (APC’s) own reason for boycotting the election. I don’t know the irregularity it means to the APC of Sylva. Now, let me differentiate what you are talking about. In Bayelsa State today, we have a Timipre Sylva APC led by one (Dennis) Otiotio and you also have the other APC that have never seen and believed the Timipre Sylva-Otiotio-led APC. This election was boycotted by the Timipre Sylva and Otiotio-led APC. So, whatever is defined and described as irregularity is best known to the faction, I don’t know.”

Similarly, the Deputy Governor, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, said the opposition APC could not match the PDP in the state, a reason, he said, the party refused to participate in the poll.

The deputy governor, who reiterated that the process was fair and transparent, lauded the BYSIEC for not closing its doors to the APC.

Ewhrudjakpo said, “There are people who don’t have the capacity to do an election, and they pretend to have it. They can’t withstand the PDP in Bayelsa, not even the APC. And the APC knows this, that’s why they stayed away from this election. So, the process was transparent, every party was carried along by the BYSIEC and so were their candidates and councillors.”

The Commissioner in charge of Media and Publicity at the BYSIEC, Elliot Osomu, dismissed the allegation of the APC, labelling it as false.

Osomu, who said it was wrong for the party to decide not to participate in the poll and then turn around to engage in spreading falsehood, exonerated the commission from the allegation of pre-determining the outcome of the poll.

He said, “That allegation is totally false. What are they (APC) talking about? They didn’t even participate in the election. How can you predetermine the outcome of an election? They decided not to participate in the election, and now they are going about saying the outcome was predetermined. That’s an absolute falsehood.”

The representative of the election monitoring group, YIAGA Africa, Tari Amananagha, observed that the non-participation of major opposition parties was not good for the process, and unhealthy for democracy.

She described the local government system as the closest government to the people, noting that election at the third tier of government was supposed to be the breeding ground for political actors to test their popularity and grow politically, through the contest for public office.

Amananagha said, “So, the fact that some political parties did not participate in the LG election is not a good one. It is not healthy for democracy, because the participation of parties, especially the major opposition, is important.

“If you don’t engage the process, you will not be able to ask questions on whatever you feel is not right with the process. We also observed that in the build-up to the election, there were no campaigns by other political parties on social media, but one party alone, which also went out to campaign at the local government level. I feel that the more the opposition shies away from engaging the process, the more they also give room for us not to have a comprehensive election.

“And this creates room for the ruling party to sweep chairmanship and councillorship seats. If the opposition participated in the election, there could have been questions for BYSIEC: where is your by-law? Where are your guidelines? How do you conduct the LG election? If the opposition had done this, BYSIEC, no matter who is appointed as its head, would also ensure that it sticks to the by-laws and guidelines of the commission.

“However, it is not the first time the major opposition in the state has shied away from the LG election and this is because they feel that the government of the day is the ruling party, and it was going to be a waste of time to engage in the contest. As a way forward, the opposition should engage BYSIEC one year before the LG poll and follow up the procedures.”

The YIAGA Africa official stressed the need for political parties in the state to engage in the real contest at the local government level, to deepen democracy and participation among the people in the government that is closest to them.