…Warn Parties To Submit List Of Candidates
Moses Ofodeme
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, says there is no extension of date earlier issued for Political Parties to submit lists of candidates for the 2023 general elections.
Festus Okoye, National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, on Wednesday 13th July 2022, informed that as provided for in the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2023 General Election released by the Commission on 26th February 2022, all political parties that conducted valid primaries are required to nominate their candidates for Governorship, Deputy Governorship and State Assembly elections via the INEC Candidate Nomination Portal (ICNP) from 1st – 15th July 2022.
Okoye, said, “So far, the Commission has processed 6,995 nomination forms (EC9) uploaded by 16 out of 18 political parties for the constituencies where they intend to sponsor candidates. However, two political parties, the African Action Congress (AAC) and New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), are yet to upload a single nomination to the portal.”
He said the Commission is using the opportunity to remind all political parties that they have three days left to upload their list of candidates to the ICNP. The deadline is Friday 15th July 2022 as the portal will automatically shut down at 6.00pm on that date.
Meanwhile, the Commission has continuously responded to requests for the issuance of Certified True Copies (CTCs) of documents mainly arising from the conduct of party congresses, primaries and nomination of candidates.
He said the number of requests processed has now risen to one million, six hundred and sixty-two thousand, nine hundred and eighty seven (1,662,987) pages of documents. Sadly, in spite of the Commission’s effort, 147 out of 476 requests processed as at today involving 5,646 pages are yet to be collected by applicants.
“The Commission appeals to prospective litigants to come forward and collect the certifed copies of the documents.” Okoye added.