By Mohammed Abubakar Dutse
The Jigawa state government has announced plans to conduct elections into the 27 local government councils in the state in the next two months.
It has, therefore, directed the Jigawa State Independent Electoral Commission (JISIEC) to put all the necessary machinery in place to conduct the polls within the specified period.
The state Commissioner for Information, Mr. Sagir Ahmed Musa, while briefing reporters after an emergency State Executive Council (SEC) meeting, presided over by the state governor, Umar Namadi, said the decision was in compliance with the recent Supreme Court judgment, which directed that all the 774 local government councils in the country must be manned by democratically elected chief executives and councillors.
According to him, “The Council decision is in line with the pursuant of the Section 197 (I) of the 1 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), and the Jigawa State Independent Electoral Commission Law No. 3 of 2012 (as amended) that give the Commission mandate to conduct Local Government Councils Election into the office of Chairman, Vice Chairman and Councillorship Constituencies across the 27 LGAs of the State.
‘Similarly, the Council decision is in compliance with the Supreme Court of Nigeria judgement on Local Government Councils “that all Local GovernmentAreas in Nigeria must have a democratically elected officials and elections are to be conducted in all States within three (3) months”.
The latest development is a marked departure from the earlier position of the commission, which announced the postponement of the polls early in June, on account of the the amended 2022 Electoral Act, which provided a 360 days notification before the conduit of any new elections.
Recall that while announcing the year-long postponement of the council elections on June 5, the Chairman of JISIEC, Alhaji Muhammad Auwalu Harbo said the elections which were scheduled to hold on June 27 were now shifted to Saturday, June 14, 2025.
While briefing stakeholders at the commission’s headquarters, Harbo cited the 2022 Electoral Act, which provided 360 days as the previous 90 days as notice for political parties to prepare for subsequent local government elections.
The development is coming few days after the state chapter of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP raised an alarm accusing the ruling All Progressives Congress APC of colluding with the JISIEC to impose Sole Administrators on the 27 local government areas of the state.
But Harbo, while addressing the stakeholders, including leadership of the political parties said the decision was purely to comply with the spirit and letters of the Electoral Act, saying doing anything on the contrary would amount to violating the law.
Besides he confirmed that the decision had the input of the political parties on the need to follow due process . He said, “While preparing the conduct of this year’s elections, (2024) received series of requests from different groups of people, including political parties and Inter Party Advisory Council, (IPAC) Jigawa State chapter for the Commission to request the amendment of the state electoral law 2012 to reflect the mandatory requirements of 360 days.”
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