The pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, on Wednesday, chided and lauded the National Assembly over the process of review of the Constitution
The National Publicity Secretary of the group, Mr Jare Ajayi, in a statement published by The Guardian , said that the steps being taken on Constitutional Amendments by the National Assembly were commendable.
He was however quick to add that the review had not gone far enough as it had not brought about the much-desired restructuring or true federalism.
Ajayi asserted that the attempt at reducing the items on the Exclusive Legislative List in favour of States is commendable “only that the items touched so far are peripheral”.
Allowing Independent Candidates in Elections is quite good just as the proclamation on the electronic transmission of election results. Ditto for the vesting of the collection of Value Added Tax in the states.
But the proviso precluding states from conducting elections into their local government councils should not be allowed. It will infringe on the spirit of the federal system of government that we claim to be running.
“While it’s true that many governors have been manipulating state Electoral Commissions to subvert electoral choices in their areas, vesting the central government with the power to conduct local government elections is not the panacea.
“What can be done to check this is for political parties in the given state to be more up and doing. It is for our judicial system to be more functional in respect of electoral offences. The Kaduna State local government elections conducted by Governor El Rufai was cited as an example of the possibility of having a fair local government election even when conducted by a state government”, he said.
It would be recalled that in the said elections that were partly conducted electronically, the opposition PDP won some council areas against the ruling APC candidates.
Afenifere spokesman went on to say that the pan-Yoruba organisation is disappointed in the NASS’s failure to allow for State and Local Government Police especially given the worrisome dimension that the insecurity situation in the country has assumed.
Reservation was also expressed on the direct allocation of funds to the local government councils. While autonomy is welcomed for local government councils, we must be at alert to ensure that the federal government does not use the opportunity to subvert the state government and particularly to imperil indigenous people in a given area.
“This is pertinent in view of what is happening presently in some states where some heavily armed non-indigenes have driven indigenes away from their ancestral lands and settled there. Examples of this abound in states like Kaduna, Plateau, Borno, Nassarawa and lately Niger and a part of Kogi.
Afenifere stated that while this phenomenon did not start with the present administration, it is crystal clear that the problem became more accentuated under the present administration as necessary and effective detterent actions are not being taken against perpetrators of such heinous crime.
“When a usurper, now in government, gets direct allocation from the centre, such a usurper is further strengthened to possibly sabotage the state government and perhaps further oppress the indigenous people. They would then become land owners while indigenous people become refugees as is happening in places like Kaduna, Zamfara, Benue, Plateau etc.
“The issue of state governors fiddling with local government funds cropped up as a result of corruption that have become endemic in our society. A governor who is not corrupt and is serious about why he is in government would allow local government councils to get what is due to them. The State House of Assembly should be able to check an erring governor in this respect. We are aware that most Houses of Assembly in Nigeria are in the pockets of their governors. We are also aware that this is an anomaly that must be tackled with the help of the judiciary and the people who elected the legislators.
“This is one of the reasons why the provision for the granting of financial autonomy to those two arms of government – legislature and the judiciary – by the National Assembly is also quite commendable.
On the whole, Ajayi felt that the National Assembly should be encouraged to give us ‘a people-oriented Constitution”, he added.
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