NIGERIA-POLITICS: Date for Local Government Polls Announced

By Toye Olori Reprint | | Print |

Toye Olori

LAGOS, Jan 9 1997 (IPS) - In what appears to be another step towards democratic rule in Nigeria, the National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (NECON) has announced the dates for local government elections originally set for December last.

NECON chair Summer Dagogo-Jack said at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday that the polls would take place on Mar. 15.

The elections had been scheduled for the fourth quarter of last year but were then postponed, spawning doubts over whether Nigeria’s return to democracy would stay on course. Politicians appeared Thursday to be relieved that a new date had been announced.

“Aspirants who had been screened for the December council elections were not happy that after spending much money and their time canvassing for votes, the elections could not be held as scheduled,” Ibrahim Mantu said from Abuja. “But we believe that what is worth doing at all is worth doing well.

“NECON said it needed to prepare the voters register and conduct an election that is credible and acceptable by Nigerians and the international community. We (politicians) have to cooperate to ensure a successful transition,” added Mantu, the publicity secretary of the United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP), one of Nigeria’s five registered political parties.

Dagogo-Jack told journalists that his commission would release the election time-table and guidelines on Feb. 21 while the inauguration of the elected local government officials would take place on Mar. 24.

Noting that political sceptics had capitalised on the postponement of the local government polls, Mantu said that the new dates were an indicator that the military government’s transition to democracy programme — scheduled to yield an elected civilian administration in 1998 — was back on course.

Echoing this view, the leader of the National Centre Party of Nigeria, Don Etiebet, told IPS that the new timetable would give the parties ample time to work on “the mobilisation of people towards the election. The announcement has shown critics that the transition programme is on course.”

Nigerians interviewed here also welcomed Thursday’s announcement.

“I was not sure initially that the transition would succeed when NECON started lagging behind the transition timetable…,” said Iyabo Adebisi, a sales clerk here. “When they put all of us in suspense by refusing to announce a new date when the local government elections could be held, I thought they are at it again, but today I think we are moving forward.”

The political parties had screened members interested in contesting the local government elections before they were postponed. With the announcement, some parties plan to reopen the screening to accomodate new interest groups.

“We will publicise the guidelines so that members interested in contesting the election will come forward,” Mantu said. “We will also finetune our party guidelines which had already been drawn before the postponement to bring them in line with the NECON guidelines so there won’t be any problems in the aspirants way.”

According to NECON, voter registration will start on February 10.