Following the resignation of Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Cross River, Mr Frankland Briyai to join partisan politics, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called for a clean up of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The party made the appeal in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, on Sunday in Abuja.
Ologbondiyan called on the National Assembly to open a public hearing on the issue.
He also urged the national legislators to effect amendments in the Electoral Act to check the appointment and retention of persons with political leanings as electoral officers as well as recommending stringent sanctions for infringements in that direction.
Ologbondiyan alleged that the manifestation of Briyai, as an All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirant in Bayelsa while still in office, was a confirmation that he worked for the party in the last general elections.
“The party notes that Briyai’s governorship ambition on the platform of the APC, which he announced while still in the confines of his office as REC, amply exposed INEC as a partisan electoral umpire under the watch of Prof. Yakubu Manhood,” he said.
Ologbondiyan expressed worry that President Muhammadu Buhari was yet to sanction Briyai, even after announcing his ambition within INEC facility.
He called on the president to speak out on why he was yet to sanction the ex-Cross River REC in line with the law.
Okoye said that Briyai failed to follow laid down procedure for resignation, while it also frowned at the use of the commission’s premises to declare his partisan interest, saying it is unlawful.
The commission had withdrawn all power delegated to him as REC, while it also directed the Administrative Secretary of INEC Cross River to oversee the office and take over the functions and duties of the REC until further notice.
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