INEC Explains Why APC Candidates Lawan, Akpabio, And Umahi Were Omitted From The Senate List

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has provided an explanation as to why some names submitted by the All Progressives Congress (APC) as senatorial candidates were absent from the list published by the commission on Friday.

In an interview with Channels Television, Festus Okoye, INEC's spokesman, discussed the development.

Senate President Ahmad Lawan, Godswill Akpabio, former minister of Niger Delta affairs, and Dave Umahi, governor of Ebonyi, were listed as APC candidates for the Yobe north, Akwa Ibom north-west, and Ebonyi south senatorial districts, respectively.

Lawan, Umahi, and Akpabio were reportedly excluded from the list released by the commission on Friday.

This development occurs in the context of controversies surrounding the APC Yobe North senatorial ticket and senatorial primary issues involving Akpabio and Umahi.

Despite the fact that the APC had scheduled its senatorial primaries for May, Umahi, Lawan, and Akpabio are said to have participated in APC primaries after contesting and losing the party's presidential nomination in June.

Okoye, commenting on the development regarding the INEC list, stated that the party is not required to publish the names of candidates submitted by political parties if there are questions regarding the validity of primaries featuring such candidates.

His statement reads,

"If you look at section 29(1) of the Electoral Act 2022, it states that "every political party shall submit to the commission, in the prescribed forms, the list of candidates it intends to support at the election, who must have emerged from valid primaries conducted by the political party, not later than 180 days before the date appointed for a general election under this Act," he explained.

"The list of candidates is not submitted by the commission." The responsibility for submitting this particular list has been assigned to the political parties themselves, and there is no personal interference between the commission and the parties in this instance.

"We open the portal, which we call the 'candidate nomination portal,' and we give an access code to the national chairman of each of the political parties that conducted primaries with which they upload the list and personal particulars of their nominated candidates.

" Therefore, if a political party has uploaded the list and personal particulars of a candidate who did not emerge from a valid party primary, INEC is not required by law to publish the candidate's name. "

The INEC spokesperson added that a candidate who was validly nominated in a primary but whose name was omitted by the party may seek redress in a court of competent jurisdiction.

The final list will be published at a later date, he added... Continue Reading