INEC has no power to sack me, says ex-Cross River REC – TheNigerialawyer

The immediate past Cross River State Resident Electoral
Commissioner (REC), Dr. Frankland Briyia, on Wednesday, said the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) lacked powers to
unilaterally sack him.

Briyia said his preliminary investigations revealed that the
report that he was sacked by the commission was fake saying that he
only resigned his appointment to join partisan politics and
participate in the forthcoming governorship election in Bayelsa
State.

Speaking at the secretariat of the All Progressives Congress
(APC) in Yenagoa, Briyia said he was at the party office to inform
the officials that he was a registered member of the party and
intended to contest the forthcoming poll.

There were reports that INEC sacked the former REC for using its
premises in Cross River to declare his membership of the APC.

But Briyia said: “No, INEC did not say so. INEC never meant to
say so. I officially and legally resigned my appointment and INEC
will attest to that. Let me state this. The REC is nominated by the
President and the President sends the nominees to the Senate.

“The Senate screens them and if they’re found worthy confirms
them and sends them to the President and the President eventually
gives them appointments. The moment the appointment is given to the
REC and the REC does anything wrong, INEC will investigate and
sends its reports and makes its recommendation of what will happen
to the REC whether he will be disciplined or not to the
President.

“If the President and his team actually investigate and if he
sees that what the REC has done actually contravenes the code of
conduct, he will send the report to the Senate. The Senate will
debate it, if the two-third majority of the Senate finds what the
REC wrong, the Senate will rectify it and send it back to the
President.

“It thereafter the President only, can sanction the REC. I have
contacted INEC headquarters and the news about my sack is fake
news. INEC said they didn’t say a thing like that. I’m sure you
have watched or maybe read INEC publication, you won’t find
anything like sack because I resigned officially.

“My departure created a vacuum and in INEC tradition the moment
there’s no REC the administrative secretary takes over, that was
what INEC meant. INEC doesn’t mean that I was sacked. So, don’t
misquote INEC”.

Briyia said he had mapped out robust programmes for Bayelsa
adding that if he became the governor of the state he would focus
on human capacity and infrastructural development.

He said the people of the state were generally unemployed
lamenting that most of them could no longer go to school.

The aspirant observed that civil servants were not re Irving
their full salaries while most pensioners were languishing without
their pensions.

He said: “I came because the good people of Bayelsa state called
me to come and contest the gubernatorial election. We have
insecurity in this state and insecurity has so many factors that
cause them.

“When we identify those factors, we intend that God helping us
after the gubernatorial election, we are going to turn this state
around for the betterment of everybody that’s living in this state,
whether you are indigenes or non-indigenes.

“Some of you have traveled out of this state. Ebonyi state and
some of them were created the same time with Bayelsa. if you travel
to Ebonyi state you will see infrastructural development. I was in
Ebonyi state in January last year and I passed through some of
those states that were created the same time with Bayelsa
state.

“As a matter of fact, Bayelsa state is the list developed, in
terms of human capacity and infrastructural development. Bayelsa
state is the smallest and wealthiest of these states. That was the
reason they asked me to come and contest because they found worthy
and capable of turning this state around”.

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