Governor of Benue State Hyacinth Alia has sacked the Chairman of the State Independent Electoral Commission, BSIEC John Chen.
His removal from office was a sequel to the recommendation of the Benue State House of Assembly that called for his sack.
In plenary on Thursday, the House, led by Speaker Hyacinth Dajoh, suggested that the Chairman be removed on the grounds of suspected incompetence. This recommendation came after a discussion on the report of the House Standing Committee on Rules and Business, which had visited the Commission to gather facts.
In its resolution, the House also urged the state government to hire more employees in order to bolster the commission’s current staff.
It also pleaded with the state government to supply an operating vehicle park, a modern office building for workers, and an access road to the Commission’s offices.
Approving the sack of the BSIEC Chairman, Governor Alia in a statement Friday by his Chief Press Secretary, Tersoo Kula said he was “in receipt of a communication from the Benue State House of Assembly wherein the Honourable members sent some resolutions to him for further implementation.
“These resolutions include, amongst others; that the chairman of the Commission, Dr John Chen should be removed from office.
“The Assembly accused the BSIEC chairman of lacking good judgement as to which decision will appeal to the greater majority of all stakeholders, and also that his actions so far in office fall short of the public interest.
“Governor Alia has accepted the resolutions and directed the Chairman of the commission to immediately hand over to the Administrative Secretary of the commission.”
