The crises that engulfed local councils in Osun State, leading to the death of five people, among them a former local government chairman, and the paralysis of local government administration in the state after the February 25 elections all combine to create a sad commentary on the bastardization of democracy in Nigeria. The sequence of events that led to the stalemate at the local council demonstrates how politicians manipulate and abuse the democratic process. But more sadly, it renders bare the negative and tragic consequences of a judiciary that is subservient to political parties in power and powerful politicians, as against the principle of the rule of law.
Three years after the controversial October 16, 2022 YES/NO election into local councils in the final days of former Governor Adegboyega Oyetola, the judiciary’s contradictory judgments have led to an unstable leadership in the third tier of governance in Osun State. The former governor and now Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, ignored misgivings raised by other political parties and went ahead to conduct the election in 2022. Only the All Progressives Congress (APC) featured on the ballot papers, so voters were required to accept or reject the chairmanship and councillorship candidates by ticking either YES or NO.
For an election to be transparent, the electoral umpire, whether the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) or the State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC) must carry other political parties along. There must be consultations, stakeholder meetings, and if there are valid complaints or doubts expressed by other political parties, they must be taken into account in fixing dates and conducting elections.
However, in conducting the 2022 local council elections, the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSIEC) turned deaf ears to all the complaints raised by the opposition parties. The commission conducted an election in which only one political party, the APC, featured. That could not have been a genuinely democratic election; it was a mere charade.
