Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday talked tough, insisting that it would not accept Party candidates produced from rerun primaries saying it was high time the electoral process was sanitized. It also stuck to its gun that the nomination lists by parties that didn’t meet the 6:00pm deadline on Monday stood rejected. By this stance, 20 parties would not participate in the April elections because the lists of their nominated candidates were rejected.
However, in what would be another round of laughter for President Olusegun Obasanjo, the Commission confirmed yesterday that candidates produced by primaries held by the faction loyal to the former President’s faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun state led by Jubril Martins-Kuye, the Minister of Commerce, had been accepted instead of the nominations from the faction loyal to Governor Gbenga Daniel, headed by Chief Joju Fadairo.
What this means is that the governorship candidate, backed by the Ogun State governor, Mr Gboyega Isiaka, Lola Abiola-Edewor, also a senatorial candidate, and other contestants from his camp have crashed out, just as the senatorial ambition of the governor himself is in jeopardy. Should the status quo be maintained by INEC, former ECOMOG Commander, General Adetunji Olurin and Iyabo Obasanjo’s nominations would be flying the PDP flag as governorship and senatorial candidates.
As at press time, 20 other parties had succeeded in convincing the Commission having beat the deadline for submission of candidates along with the previous 20, thus bringing the total number of parties whose lists had been cleared and accepted by INEC to 43. The ambitions of politicians like Chief Great Ogboru, Delta State governorship candidate, Jerry Useni, Senatorial candidate in Plateau state had been cut short, by this development as the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) is one of the parties that didn’t make it.
Also, Alhaji Bello Masari’s nomination on the platform of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) for governor in Katsina State has been upheld while that of serving Senator, Garuba Yakubu Lado was rejected on the ground that the primary that produced Masari was the one approved by the Commission.
Respite also came the way of Governor Adebayo Alao -Akala and others in the Oyo State PDP, whose candidates were hitherto rejected by the Commission, as the Commission changed position disclosing that their case was under review last night.
Director of Public Affairs of the INEC, Emmanuel Umenga explained that all the decisions of the Commissionconcerningthe submission of party candidtaes was informed by the provisions of the extant law.
Shedding more light on the developments, he stated that INEC recognized the nominations of the Chief Obasanjo’s faction on the strength of a court order that the primary was the valid one. This position, he said, would be maintained by the Commission except there is a contrary order.
In the case of Enugu State, he argued that Sillivan Chime remained the governorship candidate of the PDP to the Commission until an order voiding his candidacy is served on the Commission. “There is no official communication to that effect from the court.”
“In the interim we have to obey the order of the court of law and that is why we are giving recognition to the nominations of the Ogun PDP faction under whoever you choose to call it which produced General Olurin and co. The court order mandated us to recognize the faction and we have no choice. INEC is a law abiding institution, if there is an appeal and a contrary order comes, why not we will obey,” he stated.
In Anambra PDP, Umenga explained that there were two factions, but the INEC is recognizing the one headed by Benjamin Udeozor as the authentic faction.
A top official of INEC confided in Daily Sun that all the rerun candidates would not be accepted under any circumstance and that the parties whose candidates have been rejected should go to court.
“We have told them, it is not business as usual and we must get it right this time. Most of the litigations that tend to disrupt the system are usually arising from the parties’ lack of internal democracy, conducting primaries with utter disregard for law.
On the issue of late submission of the nomination list by the 20 parties, the source said, “let them go to court, we told them January 31 and everyone knows that official working hour is 4:00pm and we were magnanimous to have extended it till 6:00pm. What were they doing all along, please let them sue INEC. We have the right to determine our programme and that we have done.”
Parties who were among the 43 whose nominations were accepted on the ground that they met the deadline included:
Accord (A); Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Alliance for Democracy (AD), African Liberation Party (ALP), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Action Party of Nigeria (APN), Africa Political System (APS), African Renaissance Party (ARP), Better Nigeria Progressive Party (BNPP), Change Advocacy Party (CAP), Congress for Democratic Change (CDC), Congress for Progressives Change (CPC), Community Party of Nigeria (CPN), Citizens Popular Party (CPP), Democratic Peoples Alliance (DPA), Fresh Democratic Party (FRESH) ( has only presidential candidate), Hope Democratic Party (HDP), Kowa Party (KOWA), Labour Party (LP), Movement for Democracy and Justice (MDJ), Mega Progressive Peoples Party (MPPP), Movement for the restoration and Defence of Democracy (MRDD), National Conscience Party (NCP), New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), National Reformation Party (NRP), National Solidarity Democratic Party (NSDP), National Transformation Party (NTP), Peoples for Democratic Change (PDC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Peoples Mandate Party (PMP), Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN), Peoples Progressive Party (PPP), Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Peoples Salvation Party (PSP), Republican Party of Nigeria (RPN), Social Democratic Mega Party (SDMP), United Democratic Party (UDP), United National Party for Development (UNPD) and United Nigeria Peoples Party (UNPP).
PARTIES THAT LOSE OUT
Action Alliance (AC), Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD), African Democratic Congress (ADC), Democratic Alternative (DA), Democratic Front for Peoples Federation (DFPF), Democratic Peoples Party (DPP), Freedom Party of Nigeria (FPN), Justice Party (JP), Masses Movement of Nigeria (MMN), National Action Council (NAC), Nigeria Advanced Party (NAP), New Democrats (ND), National Democratic Liberation Party (NDLP), National Democratic Party (NDP), Nigeria Elements Progressive Party (NEPP), National Majority Democratic Party (NMDP), Nigeria Peoples Congress (NPC), National Unity Party (NUP) and Progressive Action Congress (PAC).
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