The Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) has insisted that the All Progressives Congress
(APC) will not field candidates for the elections in Zamfara state.
Arising from a meeting on
Wednesday, INEC maintained its stance that the party did not conduct valid
primaries to elect candidates for the governorship, national assembly and state
assembly elections in Zamfara.
INEC made its position know while
reacting to two contradictory court judgments on the issue.
While a state high court in
Zamfara had ruled that the APC conducted primaries in the state, a federal high
court in Abuja ruled that the party did not conduct valid primaries and
therefore is ineligible to field candidates for the elections.
Festus Okoye, a national
commissioner, said going by the contradictory judgements, the commission has
decided to maintain its stance.
“The Commission would like to
reaffirm its commitment to obeying all court judgements even when it disagrees
with them,” Okoye said in a statement.
“However, these are clearly two
contradictory judgements delivered by two courts of coordinate jurisdiction on
the same day.
“Consequently, the Commission has
decided to maintain its original position that the party in question did not
conduct primaries and therefore, in line with Section 87 of the Electoral Act
2010 (as amended), is not eligible to field candidates for the National
Assembly, Governorship and State Assembly elections in Zamfara State.”
The electoral body said it also
approved the final list of candidates for the governorship, state assembly and
federal capital territory (FCT) area council elections.
“On the whole, there are 1,066
candidates for the Governorship elections, 14,583 for the State Assembly
elections and 806 for the FCT Area Council elections broken down into 105
Chairmanship candidates and 701 Councillorship candidates.
“Commission also reviewed various
aspects of its preparedness for the 2019 general elections and expressed
satisfaction with the overall preparations for the elections.
“A meeting with all the Resident
Electoral Commissioners will take place next week to further review the state
of preparedness of each State.”
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