APC consulting lawyers over INEC’s disqualification of its candidates in Zamfara

The All Progressives Congress (APC) is consulting its lawyers over the directive from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that it should not field candidates for the 2019 elections.

The commission had barred the ruling party from the elections over its failure to comply with the October 7 deadline for conducting primaries.

Internal crisis had prevented the Zamfara APC primaries from holding.

In a letter to Adams Oshiomhole, national chairman of the ruling party, INEC said the APC is not eligible to partake in the 2019 elections in Zamfara.

The letter signed by Okechukwu Ndeche, the commission’s acting secretary read: “Failure to Conduct Primaries in Zamfara State Within the Stipulated Time-frame. Please, refer to the timetable and schedule of activities for the 2019 general elections released by the commission on January 9 2018.

“You would note that from the timetable the conduct of primaries is scheduled to take place between August 18 to October 7 2018.

“However, report received from our office in Zamfara state shows that no primaries were conducted by your party in Zamfara, notwithstanding that our officials were fully mobilised and deployed.

“Consequently, based on the provision of Section 87 and 31 of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended, the commission does not expect that your party will submit names of any candidate from Zamfara state.”

But NAN quoted a source in the APC national secretariat as saying the party leadership had decided to contact its legal department before responding to the letter.

The leadership of the APC had tried to resolve the Zamfara logjam by inaugurating a new committee which attempted to conduct the governorship and legislative primaries in the state between October 6 and October 7 but the panel failed to conduct the elections because of the threats by Abdulaziz Yari, governor of the state, to call out supporters in protest.