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…..1,069 candidates for 29 governorship positions

National CHAIRMAN of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmoud Yakubu, has criticised dominant political parties in the country for lacking in internal democracy.

Professor Yakubu, on Friday, in Abuja, at a capacity building workshop for journalists covering INEC, said the electoral body was overwhelmed with petitions and court cases arising from primaries conducted by political parties to pick candidates for the 2019 general election.

The INEC chairman revealed that there were over 396 pending court cases in which INEC had been joined as defendant, while there were more than 302 requests for Certified True Copies (CTC) of documents from courts regarding primaries monitored by the commission.

The National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, had, penultimate week, directed aggrieved members who had filed suits against the party to withdraw such cases from the courts or face sanctions.

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He was, however, overruled during the week by the leader of the party, President Muhammadu Buhari, who noted that such aggrieved members were only exercising their right to seek redress from courts.

Professor Yakubu accused politicians of paying lip service to democracy, saying their actions were capable of truncating the democratic process.

“We have also witnessed some of the most acrimonious party primaries in our recent history. Internal party democracy is still a source of concern for our electoral progress.

“So far, the commission has been joined in 396 pending actions in various courts across the country arising from the conduct of party primaries and nomination of candidates by political parties. We have similarly received 302 requests for Certified True Copies (CTC) of documents, mainly our monitoring reports of party primaries and copies of personal particulars of candidates.

“These requests are obviously a prelude to more court actions. We have also received 52 petitions and protests from aggrieved party aspirants. The implication of these challenges is that as we prepare for the general election, we are also going to grapple with pre-election litigations. Parties that fail to respect the democratic process in selecting candidates during primary elections lose the moral right to complain about secondary elections. I wish to reassure the nation that we shall continue to maintain our neutrality as the umpire, registrar and regulator of political parties,” he said.

Giving a breakdown of nominations filed by the 73 political parties seeking elective offices in next year’s general election, Yakubu restated the commission commitment to the timelines provided for in the timetable for the elections.

“You will recall that on 9th January 2018, the commission released the timetable and schedule of activities for the 2019 general elections. For the first time in our history, the date for general elections was announced over a year in advance. More specifically, the timetable lists fourteen (14) step-by-step constitutional and other legal and other statutory activities required of the commission ahead of the elections beginning with the formal publication of notice and ending with the election day.

“So far, INEC has successfully implemented seven (7) out of the fourteen (14) activities strictly on schedule, including the conduct of party primaries for all elections and the processes of nomination of candidates. We did not, and will never, tolerate any breach of the strict timelines provided for in the timetable for the elections.

“At the end of the period for the substitution and withdrawal of candidates for the presidential election, a total of seventy-three (73) political parties have now filed their nominations. Even so, a few parties have nominated candidates below the mandatory age of thirty-five (35) years as presidential and vice presidential candidates. We have drawn the attention of the parties concerned to the breach of the constitutional requirement ahead of the publication of the full list of presidential and vice presidential candidates for the 2019 general elections.

“For National Assembly elections, a total of 1,848 candidates (1,615 male and 233 female) are vying for 109 senatorial seats while 4,635 candidates (4,066 male and 569 female) are competing for the 360 seats in the House of Representatives.

“Similarly, the full list of candidates and their political parties will be published for public information in line with the commission’s timetable and schedule of activities.

“As for state elections, a total of 1,068 candidates (980 male and 88 female) are contesting for 29 governorship positions with 805 male and 263 female deputy governorship candidates.

“The commission is working on the list of candidates nominated by political parties for the 991 state assembly constituencies as well as the 68 area council chairmen and councillors for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The full details will also be published for public information in line with our timetable and schedule of activities,” the INEC boss said.

Earlier, the Project Coordinator, European Centre for Electoral Support, (ECES), Mr Rudolf Elbling, who was one of the facilitators of the workshop, expressed the hope that it “will  help achieve its set objectives and be useful in the lead-up to the  2019 general elections and participants will be in the position to provide the general public and critical stakeholders with more objective and fact-based information about the commission’s actions, policies, processes and procedures while acquiring additional professional skills from external resource experts on critical topics and emerging trends on professional journalism.”


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