By Christian Njoku
The Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security, (ICCESS) in Cross River on Wednesday rescheduled its interactive forum with political parties to Feb. 7 because political parties failed to show up.
Speaking at the venue of the event, Prof. Gabriel Yomere, Cross River’s Resident Electoral Commissioner said the event was earlier scheduled for Monday but moved to Tuesday because they were told that the president would visit Cross River.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that although there are 17 political parties functional in Cross River only one, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) showed up for the event
Yomere who apologised to the officials of security agencies, traditional rulers and other stakeholders present said the event would have gone on if they had at least up to 10 political parties present.
“Because we cannot shave a man’s head in his absence it will be improper for us to have a discussion when the main actors are not present.
“If we had formed a quorum, the discussion would have been held but having one party out of 17 is more than a failure.
“We will reschedule the meeting to Tuesday, Feb. 7 by 10 am, we will send seculars again because this meeting is very important for the preparation towards the elections of Feb. 25 and March 11,” he said.
On his part, Mr Venatius Ikem, Chairman of PDP in the state said when the meeting was held on Feb. 7, critical issues would be discussed including the issue of the movement of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in the state.
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Ikem said his only concern in the forthcoming general election was security adding that some of the flash-points have been identified especially in Obudu.
“Although the commissioner of police is on top of the issues and he has promised to take certain actions while they investigate, I hope they take action before the election,” he said.
ICCESS is a forum that comprises all security agencies, the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), political parties and other stakeholders. (NAN)
