The Akwa Ibom Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General, Mr. Uko Essien Udom has given reason the state government did not conduct elections into the 31 local government councils, attributing this to non-inclusion in the 2023 state budget.
Following the expiration of the tenure of democratically elected Chairmanship and councillorship on December 7, 2023, Governor Umo Eno reconstituted Transition Committees for the councils.
Udom who spoke in Uyo on Thursday at the end of a two-day Training/Sensitization workshop for the 2024 Local Government elections in Akwa Ibom State organised by Akwa Ibom State Independent Electoral Commission (AKISIEC) said the past administration did not provide for the elections in the 2023 budget, saying this is why people should not blame Governor Eno administration for its inability to conduct the elections.
Presenting a paper entitled: Legal Framework for Local Government Elections in Akwa Ibom State, the State number Law Officer Governor Eno administration inherited from his predecessor who did not include the elections in the budget, admitting that ‘‘There was no provision in the 2023 budget for the conduct of the local government elections.’’
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However, some participants felt the Commissioner might have contradicted the reality in that Governor Eno took over the rein of administration from Udom Emmanuel on May 29, 2023 and should have included the elections in the Supplementary Budget later sent to the State House of Assembly for debate and passage into law before the end of the year.
Some political pundits are of the opinion that the Governor being uncertain of political interplay of his political party in the state wanted to use the Transition Committee to test run the political temperature pending election of Chairmen and councilors who will paddle the boat of his second term in office.
On allegation that the state governor dictates to the commission on carrying out directives, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) dismissed it as a wrong notion, stating ‘‘The governor has no power to dictate to the Chairman of AKISIEC on his executive powers.
‘‘It is an erroneous belief that the commission is subservient to the governor. Though there are some Chairmen who wait for Governors’ instructions or directives, this is not proper. The executive and the commission derive executive powers from the Nigerian Constitution.’’
On non-prosecution of election offenders, he said in his years of legal practice, he has not seen where either the state or Federal Government shows moral suasion I prosecuting offenders.
‘‘It appears the government has no moral suasion to prosecute offenders. How can we in one breath yell that politicians have committed some offences, yet government does not want to prosecute them to serve as a deterrent to others. Let there be moral suasion between INEC and AKISIEC to prosecute offenders, otherwise, the section is no effect to any,’’ Udom averred.
