The Niger State House of Assembly sacked the chairman of the state’s Independent Electoral Commission, Baba Aminu, on Tuesday.

Malik Madaki (APC-Bosso) said the law establishing the electoral commission and Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution empowered the lawmakers to take the action.

Announcing the decision, speaker of the house, Abdullahi Bawa (APC-Tafa), said two-thirds of members voted in favour of Mr Aminu’s removal.

Mr Bawa said he was sacked for “his inability to discharge the functions of his office ranging from the inability of the mind and for misconduct”.

Earlier, Ahmed Bello (PDP-Agwara) moved the motion for Mr Aminu’s sack and was seconded by Binta Mamman (APC-Gurara).

The lawmakers had earlier invited Mr Aminu and the state’s attorney-general to appear before the house on September 22 to explain why preparations for local government elections had not been suspended despite their resolution.

They argued that the preparations should have been suspended since there was a pending matter in court about the exercise.

Mr Aminu honoured the invitation, telling the lawmakers that he was not answerable to them but his principal, the governor.

He stressed that he had not received any directive from his principal to suspend the exercise scheduled to hold in November.

Mr Aminu also said that he was aware of the pendency of a matter about the election in court but was yet to receive directives from his principal to suspend action.

He said N1 billion had already been approved for the conduct of the local government election but that the commission was yet to receive the fund.

In an earlier contribution, Aba Bala (APC-Borgu) said it was obvious that Mr Aminu’s loyalty was to his principal and expressed doubt that the chairman would be able to conduct free and fair elections. 

(NAN)