National Telescope national telescope newspaper
The Independent National Electoral Commission has advised political parties to avoid the submission of names of persons who didn’t emerge as governorship candidates at valid party primaries.
This is, as it also warned against, “rancorous primaries that lead to the breakdown of law and order, often as a result of non-adherence to the provisions of their constitutions and guidelines. These are some of the issues that lead to a large number of pre-election litigations.”
The National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, who stated this in a statement on Thursday, enjoined the parties to desist from unnecessary postponement and change of party primaries ahead of the election.
It reads, “The electoral body also admonished political parties to avoid “unnecessary postponement, arbitrary changes of venues for their primaries, wholesale changes of delegates’ lists, or the submission of names that did not emerge from valid primaries as candidates for the election.”
According to the electoral body, 16 political parties will participate in the governorship election in Edo State, scheduled to take place on September 21.
“Sixteen political parties have notified the Commission of their intention to participate in the election as well as their preferred modes and dates of primaries,” he said.
“As the Commission is set to deploy its monitoring teams, political parties are hereby reminded that Edo State is the constituency for the election. Therefore, primaries must take place within the state in line with Sections 84(4) and 5(b) of the Electoral Act 2022.”
