The State Governor Senetor Prince Bassey Edet Otu has requested the State Legislature’s appruval to recorganise the Cross River State Independent Electoral Commission (CROSIEC).
The request, contained in a letter signed by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. A. Owan Enoh, highlighted the Commission’s ineffectiveness and prayed the Legislature to ” act, pursuant to section 201(1) – (2) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, and pass an address to remove the Chairman as well as all the Members of the commission owning to seriel ineffectiveness.”
According to the letter the State Government has, “observed with dismay a cavalier work attitude by the Chairman and members of the State Electoral Commission. This inertia has led to the State not being able to conduct Local Goverment Council elections which ought to have held in 2023”.
The letter subsequently sought the Assembly’s approval to give Governor Otu, “the latitude to reorganize the Commission to enable the State to have elections to its Local Government Council as soon as possible”.
After considering the reqeust, the Speaker of the Assembly, Rt. Hon. Elvert Ayambem refered the matter to the House Committee on Judiciary Public Service Matters, Public Petition and Conflict Resolution for indept study and recomendation.
In a related development, the State House of Assembly has also received the State Governor’s request for the confirmation of nominees for appoinment into the Local Government Service Commission, Board of internal Revenue Service as well as the State privitization Council.
The requests have also been refered to the House Committee on Judiciary, Public Service matters, Public Petitions and Conflict Resolution for further legislative action.
