A REFLECTION ON THE 2013 LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS IN EDO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

It is an established fact that local government is the closest to the people at the grassroots and as such, the present administration under Governor Adams Oshiomhole, promised immediate conduct of the council polls after the dissolution of
elected council officials in October 2010, which was supposedly due for December of same year. Whereas the Comrade Governor Adams Oshiomhole’s earlier assertion that if he conducts the Local Government elections and his political party (ACN) wins in all the 18 Local Governments Areas of the State, it means something had gone wrong with the process, was highly applauded by all, the EDSIEC eventually declared his party as winner in all the 18 Local Government Areas of the State. The study utilized primary and secondary methods of data gathering. It finds that some members of Edo State Independent Electoral Commission (EDSIEC) were card carrying members of the ruling APC; adhoc staff for the elections was largely composed of members of the ruling APC; and the flawness of the election was due largely to EDSIEC compromise. It therefore recommended a strong-third-tier local government with structural uniformity across Nigeria whose conduct of elections will
be the sole responsibility of the national electoral body, INEC.