Cross River REC’s action unacceptable – INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has described as “unacceptable” the manner with which the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Cross River state, Frankland Briyai, resigned his appointment to join partisan politics, particularly the use of the commission’s facility to make such announcements.

The commission though acknowledged that it was the REC’s right to join a political party and to contest election, but frowned upon the “unlawful way the REC made public his intention to join partisan politics without following the due process.”

The chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee (IVEC), Barrister Festus Okoye, registered the commission’s displeasure over the development when he made some clarifications on the matter at the opening of a National Strategy Meeting on Capturing Disaggregated Data of Persons with Disabilities (PWDS) on Thursday, in Abuja.

The IVEC chair said, “What happened was that our REC in Cross River did not forward any letter to any of the appointing authorities, did not have any communication with the supervising national commissioner, did not have any communication with the chairman of the commission, but organised a send-off party for himself on the 8th of August, invited staff of the commission, invited the media, invited political parties and he used that particular opportunity in the premises of the commission, announced his resignation, announced the fact that he had joined partisan politics and announced that he has formally joined one of the registered political parties in the office and thereafter he entered an official vehicle of the commission and drove out to his official residence.

“We consider this unacceptable; we have a code of conduct that binds every national commissioner and REC. We cannot be partisan, and at the same time be umpires.”

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