Omeiza Ajayi
The Independent National Electoral Commission INEC
has insisted on its earlier decision to bar the ruling All Progressives
Congress APC from fielding candidates for state and federal elections in
Zamfara state.
The commission which had earlier said it would
release the final list of governorship and state assembly candidates on
Thursday however stated this late Wednesday in a statement by Festus
Okoye, one of its National Commissioners and Chairman, Information and
Voter Education Committee. The statement reads: “The Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) met today, 30th January 2019 and
among other things approved the final list of candidates for the
Governorship State Assembly and FCT Area Council elections scheduled to
hold on 2nd March 2019. On the whole, there are 1, 066 candidates for
the Governorship elections, 14, 583 for the State Assembly elections and
806 for the FCT Area Council elections broken down into 105
Chairmanship candidates and 701 Councillorship candidates. “The
Commission reviewed the situation concerning the All Progressives
Congress (APC) fielding candidates for the Governorship and State
Assembly elections in Zamfara State. Commission noted that there are two
court judgements on the matter one from a State High Court in Gusau and
the other from a Federal High Court in Abuja. The former judgement
clearly said that the APC conducted primaries in Zamfara State, contrary
to the position of the Commission. On the other hand, the Federal High
Court in Abuja ruled that the party did not conduct valid primaries and
therefore is ineligible to field candidates for the elections.
The
Commission would like to reaffirm its commitment to obeying all court
judgements, even when it disagrees with them. However, these are clearly
two contradictory judgements delivered by two courts of coordinate
jurisdiction on the same day. “Consequently, the Commission has decided
to maintain its original position that the party in question did not
conduct primaries and therefore, in line with Section 87 of the
Electoral Act 20l0 (as amended), is not eligible to field candidates for
the National Assembly, Governorship and State Assembly elections in
Zamfara State. “Commission also reviewed various aspects of its
preparedness for the 20l9 general elections and expressed satisfaction
with the overall preparations for the elections. A meeting with all the
Resident Electoral Commissioners will take place next week to further
review the state of preparedness of each State”, INEC stated.
Source:- Vanguardngr
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