28/05/2022
BREAKING NEWS:
INEC EXTEND DEADLINE FOR PRIMARY ELECTIONS.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has bowed to Pressure from Political parties to extend its deadline for Primary elections.
The commission has extended the deadline by 6 days. A statement from the commission signed by Festus Okoye on Friday evening read;The Independent National Electoral Commission on Friday bowed to pressure from political parties seeking the extension of the June 3 deadline for the conduct of primary elections by approving an additional six days extension.
The electoral umpire, however, clarified that the extension is granted in respect of outstanding primaries only and not those already concluded.
The INEC Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, made this known in a statement issued on Friday night after the meeting of the commission and the leadership of the 18 registered political parties under the aegis of the Inter-Party Advisory Council in Abuja.
The statement read in part, “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 other 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 Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) met with the leadership of political parties today Friday 27th May 2022. Once again, the political parties requested the Commission to review the timelines for political party primaries provided in the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the conduct of the 2023 General Election released on Saturday 26th February 2022.”
Earlier, 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.