The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has bowed to pressure from political parties and extended the deadline for the conclusion of party primaries by six days.
INEC announced the decision after a meeting with members of the Inter-party Advisory Committee, IPAC, on Friday at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.
According to a signed Statement by Barrister Festus Okoye, National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, “The Commission has decided to allow the request of the political parties since the six-day period does not conflict with the next scheduled activity which is the submission of the list of nominated candidates or any of the subsequent timelines which remain sacrosanct.”
INEC had on 26th February 2022 released the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the conduct of the 2023 General Elections requesting all party Primaries to be concluded on June 3,2022.
Okoye further noted that “the request is granted in respect of outstanding primaries only without prejudice to those already concluded by political parties.”
He noted that the political parties had requested for 37 – 60 days extension of the timeline for primaries and the nomination of candidates. The Commission was emphatic that this request could not be granted because it would disrupt other scheduled activities on the Timetable. This position of the Commission has not changed.
“However, based on the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2023 General Election, the parties have now pleaded with the Commission to use the 6-day period between 4th and 9th June 2022 to conclude outstanding primaries and prepare to upload the list of candidates and their affidavits on the INEC Candidates Nomination Portal.
“The Commission did not schedule any specific activity during this period. The idea is to simply give parties time to compile the list and personal particulars of their nominated candidates before uploading same to the INEC Candidates Nomination Portal from 10th – 17th June 2022.
“The Commission has decided to allow the request of the political parties since the six-day period does not conflict with the next scheduled activity which is the submission of the list of nominated candidates or any of the subsequent timelines which remain sacrosanct.
“However, this request is granted in respect of outstanding primaries only without prejudice to those already concluded by political parties. The Commission will not monitor already concluded primaries,” the statement read.
The commission noted that the next critical activity for political parties after primaries is the online submission of the list of the candidates the party proposes to sponsor.
Accordingly, the submission shall be accompanied by an affidavit sworn to by candidates indicating that they fulfilled all the constitutional requirements for election into the various offices via the INEC Candidates Nomination Portal.
“In addition, the Commission, based on past experience, has decided to train the political party officials to make efficient and effective use of the portal. The Commission will train four officials from each of the 18 political parties, making a total of 72 in all.
Unfortunately, some of the political parties are still yet to submit their nominees for the training. The Commission hereby reminds such parties to do so immediately. The Commission wishes to reiterate that only electronically submitted nominations will be processed,he said.
The Commission however urged the Political parties to ensure that their primaries are free of rancour in order to meet the timelines for the remaining activities embodied in the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2023 General Election.
