As an editor for a Nigerian newspaper, I have to ask, are you not exhausted from the continuous use of the term “sweep” when reporting the results of local government elections in Nigeria? It seems like a little variety wouldn’t hurt—perhaps a quick glance at Roget’s Thesaurus could reveal some synonyms to break the monotony for our readers.
This past weekend, local government elections were held in four Nigerian states: Jigawa, Benue, Akwa Ibom, and Rivers. Early Sunday, headlines announced that the “APC sweeps Benue council polls.” Richard Tombowua, Chairman of the Benue State Independent Electoral Commission, stated that the APC, currently governing the state despite internal divisions, claimed victory in all 27 chairmanship positions and all 276 councilor seats, leaving no wins for the seven other parties in the race. It’s worth noting that the term “contested” might need qualification here, as often smaller parties are encouraged to participate merely to lend an air of legitimacy to these elections. Given that the state’s governor is a Roman Catholic priest, many expected the elections in Benue to break from the usual Nigerian norm.
The local government elections in Rivers were particularly highly anticipated. However, these elections lacked the authenticity of a true political contest; they turned into a conflict of wills between a political godfather and his former protégé, state power versus federal influence, with the courts intervening controversially to halt what should have been the state electoral commission’s domain. The Nigeria Police, which typically ignores thousands of court orders, rushed to comply with one, refusing security for the elections and actively attempting to disrupt them. The lines of allegiance blurred as Nyesom Wike, the godfather who leads both the national and Rivers State PDP, served as a minister in the APC government, while Governor Siminayi Fubara, elected on the PDP platform but contesting under an obscure Action Peoples Party, directed his supporters to the APP right before the elections.
Shortly after polls closed, Rivers State’s Independent Electoral Commission announced that the APP “swept” 22 of the 23 local government chairmanship positions, with one LGA and its councillorships pending declaration—a formality everyone knew would follow. To stave off any potential legal challenges, Governor Fubara swore in the elected chairmen on an unusual Sunday, aware that the worst the courts could do was maintain the status quo, which favored his allies.
But Rivers and Benue were not alone in this “sweep” phenomenon. Local government elections in Borno State saw the APC winning all 27 chairmanships and 312 councilor seats, with five other participating parties failing to secure a single win. In neighboring Yobe State, which shares a similar political culture, APC candidates also swept all 17 chairmanship positions, 15 of them unopposed. Meanwhile, in Bauchi State, the PDP mirrored this trend by claiming all 20 chairmanships in the local elections held in August.
The PDP was on a roll in Adamawa State as well, where it won all 21 chairmanship positions and 225 of the 226 councillorship seats. Even in Oyo State, the PDP candidates captured all 33 chairmanship roles and the vast majority of the 500 councillorship seats, making “sweep” a fitting term for headlines once again. Delta State confirmed this trend where the PDP claimed all 25 local government chairmanships and 499 of 500 councillorship positions.
Similarly, in Enugu State, also under PDP control, all chairmanship and councillorship seats were won. But the APC was not without its own clean sweeps; it claimed all 27 local government chairmanships and 305 councillorship seats in Imo State, where the terminology shifted from “swept” to “cleared,” perhaps signaling an effort to find some linguistic diversity.
As for Kebbi State and Sokoto State, the outcomes mirrored those of their neighboring counterparts, with the APC winning all available seats. The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) also made headlines in Anambra State, where it reportedly “coasted to victory” in all 21 chairmanship and 326 councillorship positions.
Looking ahead to potential local elections in Abia and Kano, governed by the Labour Party and NNPP respectively, skepticism lingers. Reports indicate that NNPP’s internal primaries faced criticism for lack of democracy. As such, while expectations may be high, it’s difficult to predict that we won’t see a similar “sweep” narrative regardless of which party is in play.
This repetitive usage of the term “sweep” is becoming tiresome. All the national and international observers who previously critiqued INEC’s perceived failures during the last general elections, what do they have to say about the state “Independent” Electoral Commissions across Nigeria? Each institution outlined in the 1999 Constitution has demonstrated some failure, yet the SIECs are glaringly ineffective. It may be time to consider sweeping them out of the Constitution entirely.
