Commissioner accused of partisanship

The Nasarawa State House of Assembly on Tuesday called for the removal of the Commissioner-in-Charge of Electoral Matters in the Nasarawa State Independent Electoral Commission, NASIEC, Hassan Ibrahim.

The Assembly accused Mr. Ibrahim of partisanship and called on the state governor, Tanko Al-Makura, to sack him. Mr. Al-Makura is also a member of the APC while the assembly is Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, dominated.

The commissioner was alleged to have taken sides with the All Progressives Congress, APC, while on a programme aired on the state owned radio station, Nasarawa Broadcasting Service, NBS. He was said to have urged the public to ignore the one year tenure for local government elected officials passed by the state assembly.

The Nasarawa APC had, since the passage of the law, continued to express its displeasure with it.

The sack of the commissioner was recommended by two-thirds of the lawmakers who passed a vote of no confidence on him. The House also directed Mr. Al-Makura to send a replacement within 48 hours for possible screening and confirmation.

The Chairman, Joint Committee on NASIEC, Tanko Tunga (APC, Awe North), who presented the report of his committee to the House, accused Mr. Ibrahim of undermining the powers of the House and recommended that he should be sacked or made to retract his statement.

“The committee was asked to verify the truthfulness of Hon. Ibrahim Hassan’s statement on NBS TV on January 21, 2014 where he said the LG law passed by the House can only be bidding on us, the assembly. We invited him for questioning and after he denied making such statement, he later owned up because we showed him the video clip, He apologised to the house and said it happened as a result of over zealousness. However, the committee recommends that since  the commissioner pleaded and accepted that he was a politician before, he can’t hold such position and should be removed,” Mr. Tunga said.

Godiya Akwashiki (PDP, Nasarawa Eggon East), Francis Orogu (PDP, Keana), Anthony Obande (PDP, Doma South) and Nathaniel Agyo- Mesa (APC, Lafia North) said that the action of the commissioner contravened electoral laws and asked that he be removed from office immediately.

They said the law establishing the commission prevented its officials from being partisan. They also asked that Mr. Ibrahim be removed from office to ensure free and fair council elections in the state.

The speaker of the Assembly, Musa Ahmed, directed the clerk of the house to communicate the resolution to the governor for further action.

Mr. Ahmed also directed the Assembly’s Joint Committee on NASIEC and Public Account to visit the commission and other security outfits in the state to find out the level of preparedness for the conduct of the council polls.