The commission also expressed worry over the manner parties within a short period grant waivers and nominate persons who defected from other political parties as candidates for elections.
Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, expressed the concerns, yesterday, during the first regular quarterly meeting between the commission and political parties in Abuja.
Yakubu noted that some of the infractions by the political parties always lead to unnecessary litigations among party members in which the commission is always joined as a party.
He said: “For the Ondo State governorship election, party primaries will begin in the next two weeks on April 6, 2024 and end three weeks later on April 27, 2024. So far, 16 out of 19 political parties have indicated interest in participating in the election. I urge political parties to adhere strictly to their proposed dates and modes of primaries. Frequent changes as witnessed recently during the Edo primaries are not only disruptive but costly.
“The commission cannot mobilise, demobilise and remobilise its officials for the monitoring of party primaries at the convenience of political parties. Parties should stick to their proposed dates and modes of primaries for certainty and optimal deployment of resources.
“Similarly, political parties should avoid acrimonious primaries.”
“Increasingly, the conduct of parallel primaries and the emergence of multiple candidates is a frequent occurrence. So too is the tendency to grant waivers to candidates who were a few days earlier card-carrying members of other political parties and nominating such persons to the commission as their candidates for election. Some of these infractions lead to unnecessary litigations among party members in which the commission is always joined as a party. The legal fees and cost of producing Certified True Copies (CTCs) of documents can be used more productively in other electoral activities by both the political parties and the commission. We must find a solution to this situation”.
Speaking on the Edo governorship election, the INEC chairman, who spoke on the Edo State governorship election, revealed that less than six days to the close of nomination for the off-cycle governorship election in the state, only six political parties had so far submitted the names of their candidates for the election to the commission.
He told the parties to abide by the scheduled timetable as released by the commission, insisting that there will be no extension of time for the parties to upload the names of their candidates to the commission’s dedicated portal.
Chairman, Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Yusuf Dantalle, assured that the council would be proactive to ensure that the Edo and Ondo states gubernatorial elections meet the expectations of Nigerians and international community.
Dantalle, who noted that there should be no excuse for poor performance, maintained that IPAC would constantly engage INEC and major stakeholders to ensure the success of the elections and would be there for mobilisation of voters, sensitisation and monitoring of the election.
