Special Adviser to Governor Bassey Otu on Special Duties, Barr. Ekpeyong Akiba, has faulted claims by the leadership of Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) in the state, that it should have been consulted by the State’s House of Assembly before amending the Cross River State Independent Electoral Commission (CROSIC) Law, on Wednesday.
Otu’s aide faulted the claim in a telephone interview with LEADERSHIP on Thursday while reacting to the alarm raised by IPAC on the issue.
Akiba also condemned the call by the Council demanding that the CROSIEC amendment Bill 2024 that was amended by the state’s lawmakers be repealed.
The constitutional lawyer said that the amendment will facilitate speedy conduct of local government elections in line with the Supreme Court judgement on conduct of local government elections.
“There is no law that stipulates that IPAC must be consulted before CROSIEC law be amended.
“Cross River State House of Assembly believes in the rule of law and acted promptly to comply with the judgment of the Supreme Court,” he stressed.
The lawyer maintained that the State House of Assembly has power to make and amend laws in respect to items on the concurrent legislative list, stressing that local government elections is one of such.
“Only relevant sections were amended to speed up with the judgment of the apex court,” he stated.
He described the argument advanced by IPAC as baseless, stressing that the existing judgment of the apex court has mandated states without elected local government council chairmen to conduct elections within three months from the date of the judgment or forfeit monthly allocations accruing to their LGAs.
“Certain provisions of the former CROSIEC law would have posed serious hardship to the implementation of the judgment of the apex court.
“The Cross River State House of Assembly has the powers to make and amend laws with respect to items on the Concurrent Legislative List. Local government election is one of such.
“And of course, the Cross River State is one of the state governments that is poised to fully implement the judgement of the Supreme Court, and there’s no going back on that,” Akiba maintained.
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