States maintain a State Joint Local Government Account into which funds from the Federation Account that are destined for local government councils are deposited. In addition, states are obliged to pay to it a certain proportion of their total revenue as prescribed by the state legislatures. Section 8 of the constitution enjoins the states to make laws providing for the establishment, structure, composition, finance and functions of councils. Allegations abound that, in several regions, the practice by state executives has been to use their powers to subordinate the local government councils to the federal and state functionaries, some of whom have abused their powers and rendered several local government councils dysfunctional. For example, the plans, budgets, projects and programmes of the local governments can be modified or rejected by the states. 221. State executives have, in many instances, unlawfully or without proper authority diverted significant amounts of funds meant for local government use in order to provide necessary basic services. The EFCC has been investigating several current governors and former governors regarding charges of siphoning off local government funds and, out of 31 cases, 15 cases of corruption were established in 2006. State assemblies and local council chairpersons have also been implicated in the diversion of local government funds. Local government projects are consequently poorly funded and, given the erratic flow of funds where they have been siphoned off, it has been difficult for councils affected by corruption to carry out long-term programmes. Absentee leadership of councils, poorly paid and undermotivated staff, lack of capacity and expertise at the local government level, limited accountability, and low consultation and participation of the people have led to local governments failing to meet the expectations of the people to whom they are closest. Electoral system in need of reform 92 222. Electoral processes in Nigeria were widely viewed as flawed by stakeholders, and many of the outcomes were received with scepticism. Several elections conducted for members of the executive and the legislatures at state and federal level were contested in court and, over time, the election petition tribunals have unseated several office bearers. The impact of this has been to call the legitimacy of the leadership into question, thereby rendering one of the pillars of constitutional democracy devoid of substantive content. The lack of strong sanctions and enforcement mechanisms to ensure compliance with the rule of law has exacerbated the incidence of electoral fraud and malpractices. The winner-takes-all paradigm of holding office has narrowed the spaces for opposing parties to participate in governance, which makes the struggle and competition for power all the more intense and possibly vicious. 223. Increasingly undemocratic internal governance of the political parties stifles genuine intraparty competition. Many stakeholders believe that the crisis that characterises the electoral process and the continuing fraud in electoral management are directly linked to the lack of internal democracy and cohesion in the party political system in Nigeria. Stakeholders complained that all political parties are guilty of wilful disenfranchisement