9th July, 2022
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it can no longer take any action on the senatorial seats for Akwa Ibom North West and Yobe North Senatorial Districts being contended for by former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio and Senate President Ahmad Lawan respectively.
The All Progressives Congress, APC had submitted the name of Akpabio and Lawan to INEC as its candidates for the two senatorial districts.
But reports by INEC offices indicated that both men did not participate in the primaries where candidates for the senatorial districts were elected.
INEC offices in Yobe and Akwa Ibom respectively had in reports submitted to its headquarters indicated that the primaries, as monitored by them, were won by Bashir Machina and DIG Udom Udo Ekpoudom (Rtd) respectively.
Consequently, INEC has refused to publish any the personal particulars of any candidate for the two constituencies.
But the APC had insisted on Akpabio and Lawan, and officials of the party had recently call for sack of Mike Igini, the Resident Electoral Commission for Akwa Ibom over his insistence that the APC ticket for the state’s North West senatorial district belonged to Ekpoudom who won the primary.
But INEC, in a statement by Mr Festus Okoye, its National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, in Abuja on Saturday said it will not yield to allegations intended to impugn the integrity of the commission in respect of the Akwa Ibom North West and Yobe North Senatorial Districts respectively.
“To set the record straight, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria mandates the commission to monitor the organisation and operation of political parties, including their finances, conventions, congresses and party primaries.
“In line with its constitutional and legal obligations, the commission deployed monitors to the various constituencies and received reports of such exercise.
“In relation to the primaries for the Akwa Ibom North West and Yobe North Senatorial Districts, the commission stands by the monitoring reports received from our state offices.
“ For this reason, the commission did not publish the personal particulars of any candidate for the two constituencies at variance with the state reports,” INEC said.
The Commission added that it can no longer do anything to help the two APC preferred candidates.
“Right now, the commission is funtus officio in the two cases,” he said.
Okoye added that aggrieved parties were at liberty to approach the Federal High Court and seek redress as provided in section 285 of the 1999 Constitution and the Electoral Act, 2022
On the issuance of Certified True Copies (CTCs) of documents, he said members of staff of the commission had been working hard, including weekends, to meet the deluge of requests received.
He said that as at Friday, the commission had processed 433 requests involving the certification 1,662,776 pages of documents.
The commissioner said that many of the processed CTCs were awaiting collection at the INEC Headquarters by some of the same applicants complaining of delay in its issuance.
“Section 29 (4) of the Electoral Act provides that any person may apply to the commission for a copy of nomination form, affidavit, and any other document submitted by a candidate at an election.
“The Commission shall, upon payment of a prescribed fee, issue such person with a certified copy of document within 14 days.
“Persons applying for CTC of documents should endeavor to act timely and within the ambit of the law,“he said.
Okoye said that INEC would continue to uphold the integrity of the electoral process, including the deepening of the deployment of technology to enhance the credibility of elections.