THE Kogi State Independent Electoral Commission (KOSIEC) has declared the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidates as winners of all 21 local government chairmanship seats and 239 councillorship positions in the state.
Announcing the results in Lokoja, KOSIEC chairman, Mamman Nda-Eri, described the election, held on Saturday, October 19, as peaceful, free, fair, and credible.
Notably, a woman was among those elected, securing the chairmanship of Ogori-Magongo Local Government Area.
“The APC performed excellently, winning all chairmanship and councillorship positions, leaving nothing to the other 18 political parties that participated in the election.
“The results at the headquarters were earlier declared at the various collation centres by the respective returning officers.
“As chairman of KOSIEC, I hereby confirm the results previously collated and returned by the returning officers,” he stated.
Nda-Eri commended the electoral officials, security agencies, observers, and journalists for contributing to the election’s success.
The ICIR reported that following the July 2024 Supreme Court ruling affirming the autonomy of local government administration, many Nigerian states such as Kwara, Rivers, Ebonyi and Kebbi among others have been conducting local government elections, with some gearing up for the exercise.
The ruling, which restored financial and administrative independence to the nation’s 774 local government areas (LGAs), has compelled state governments to hold elections, marking a departure from the previously pervasive practice of appointing caretaker committees who were mainly the governors’ stooges and tools for squirrelling public funds.
Although The ICIR reports that this practice has been widely criticised for undermining local governance and stalling community development, many Nigerian state governors used the LGAs as tools for political patronage, which negated democratic ideals.
For years, LGAs, which are constitutionally the third tier of government, have been deprived of their autonomy, with state governors often hand-picking local government chairmen and councillors.
This has reportedly led to the stifling of development at the grassroots level, as most of the funding intended for LGAs was controlled and sometimes misappropriated by state executives.
Until the Supreme Court ruling, many LGAs had been headed by caretaker committees in most states across the country.
Nurudeen Akewushola is an investigative reporter and fact-checker with The ICIR. He believes courageous in-depth investigative reporting is the key to social justice, accountability and good governance in society. You can reach him via nyahaya@icirnigeria.org and @NurudeenAkewus1 on Twitter.