Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said the All Progressives Congress (APC) doesn’t have candidates for Yobe North and Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial Districts in respect of Senators Ahmed Lawan and Godswill Akpabio’s nominations.
The commission insisted that it didn’t accommodate the nominations of the duo by the party.
The national commissioner and chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee Festus Okoye who disclosed this yesterday while speaking on Channels TV programme ‘Politics Today’ said the Commission has not recognised any of the two personalities as a Senatorial candidate.
He said, “The commission has clarified the commission has made it very clear that under Section 29 subsection one of the electoral act. It is the responsibility of a political party to forward to the Independent National Electoral Commission, the names or the list and personal particulars of their members who emerged from validly conducted party primaries.
“In these two constituencies. Two names were forwarded and the Commission made the determination that the names forwarded to us were not persons who emerged from validly conducted party primaries.
“And we did not publish their particulars, and that is where we are.”
Okoye said the commission will not go out of its way to plead with APC to forward the name of a candidate who emerged from its valid primary.
“The commission will not go out of its way to plead with a political party to forward the name of a candidate that emerged from a validly conducted party primaries.”
“If a political party does not forward the name of a candidate that emerges from valid party primaries, the implication is that that particular political party will not have candidates in the election for that particular constituency, and that is what the law states.”
He further noted that Lawan and Akpabio’s names were uploaded by APC to the INEC candidates’ nomination portal, but the commission rejected the names.
“So the implication is that as of today, the APC does not have a candidate in those two constituencies,” he added.
He further explained that the conduct of party primaries is essentially, within the domestic realm of the various political parties.
“The only thing the law says is that the Commission should monitor the conduct of those primaries to make sure that the names that are submitted to the Commission are the names of persons who emerge from validly conducted primaries,” he added.
