LG Elections: C’River Assembly approves dissolution of State Electoral Commission
Ani Bassey
The Cross River State House of Assembly has approved the dissolution of the board of the State Independent Electoral Commission, CROSIEC.
This follows a request by the state governor Prince Bassey Otu to the assembly for latitude to reconstitute the commission for failing to conduct local government elections in the state.
The governor had on July 16 2024 conveyed a letter signed by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. A. Owan Enoh to the House of Assembly.
The letter cited significant concerns about CROSIEC’s ineffectiveness, attributing the delay in conducting the 2023 Local Government Council elections to the Commission’s “cavalier work attitude.”
The state governor invoked section 201(1) – (2) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, called for the removal of CROSIEC’s Chairman and all its members.
The letter partly read “The inertia displayed by the Chairman and members of the State Electoral Commission has led to the State not being able to conduct Local Government Council elections, which ought to have been held in 2023,” the letter stated.
It further highlighted the necessity for the Governor to have the “latitude to reorganize the Commission” to facilitate the election process.
In a decisive plenary session today, 22 out of 25 Assembly members voted in favour, securing the required two-thirds majority to approve Governor Otu’s proposal.
The lawmakers urges the governor to immediately reconstitute CROSIEC to ensure that the local government elections can proceed without further delay.
CROSIEC, under the then leadership of Mike Ushie failed to conduct local government elections in the state last year following the expiration of the tenure of local government officials in June.
The commission also failed to schedule a date for the elections.
Mike Ushie, the the Chairman tendered his resignation to the government following the governor’s request to the house but it’s uncertain if his resignation was accepted.
