Joseph Bakare
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Thursday circulated the final list of presidential and National Assembly candidates.
The list shows authentic contestants that would participate in the forthcoming general elections.
Unfortunately, the governorship and National Assembly candidates of the All Progressives Congress in Rivers and Zamfara states were missing on the list which was endorsed by the Secretary of INEC, Rose Oriaran-Anthony.
From the list it was also observed that the Social Democratic Party did not have any presidential and vice-presidential candidates.
The INEC said, the exclusion was due to the court order which sacked a former governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke, as the SDP presidential candidate of the party.
Also, a Federal High Court in Abuja had stopped the APC from presenting candidates in Rivers and Zamfara following the inability of the party to resolve its internal crises on the conduct of its primaries.
Despite the endorsement of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, by the Coalition of United Political Parties, the names of their presidential candidates and running mates were still on the list.
Female candidates in both the presidential and vice-presidential categories stood at 26, while the People Living With Disabilities were not represented.
The academic qualifications of the candidates were also displayed.
The presidential candidate of the APC, President Muhammadu Buhari, submitted a First School Leaving Certificate, West African School Certificate and a certificate simply written as “CDT.”
The implication of non-inclusion of the APC candidates on the list means that the party would not partake in the next month’s federal legislative elections in Zamfara and Rivers.
This implies that the three senatorial seats and seven House of Representatives seats in the two states which are currently being occupied by the APC, will be lost come February.
INEC said the decision was hinged on the fact that the APC failed to conduct primaries for the National Assembly, governorship and state assembly elections, adding that the October 7, 2018 deadline had lapsed.
The Zamfara APC had been engulfed in a serious crisis in recent time as parallel primaries had been held by factions of the party, none of which was monitored by INEC.