Chuks Okocha in Abuja
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday released the names of political parties that qualified to contest the governorship elections in the November 16 governorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states.
In a statement by the INEC national commissioner in charge of Information and Public Education, Festus Okoye, the commission said that at the close of the time stipulated by sections 31, 33 and 35 of Electoral Act, 2010(as amended) for the submission of the names of nominated candidates, 49 nominations were received for Kogi State.
It further said that out of these, 41 nominations were valid, while eight were invalid.
According to the statement, INEC further said that 18 political parties withdrew from contesting the elections., while, 23 political parties would contest the Governorship election in Kogi State.
For Bayelsa State, INEC said that a total of 52 nominations were received, explaining that out of these, 46 were valid, while six were invalid.
It also said that one political party had since withdrawn from the contest, leaving a total of 45 political parties to contest the Governorship election in Bayelsa State
In view of this, INEC said, “In compliance with section 34 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), the full names and addresses of all candidates standing nominated will be published in the relevant offices and on the website of the commission on Monday, September 30, 2019.
The statement said that the commission had on September 12, 2019 informed the public that 64 political parties conducted primaries in Bayelsa State and 59 in Kogi State, adding that “Out of these, 52 political parties for Bayelsa State and 49 for Kogi State respectively, submitted the list and personal particulars of their candidates at the close of nomination at 6p.m. on Monday, September 9, 2019.
“The Commission also informed the public that from its preliminary review of the list and personal particulars submitted by the parties at the close of nomination, some of the Governorship and Deputy Governorship candidates were below the minimum age prescribed by the Constitution and that the Commission was considering further action.
“By a letter dated September 13, 2019, the Commission notified the concerned political parties of the invalidity of their nominations. In Bayelsa State, six of the nominated Governorship and/or Deputy Governorship candidates were affected, while in Kogi State there were eight such nominees.
“Some of the affected parties have written the Commission admitting their error and requesting to submit new nominees to replace the underaged ones. However, this was after the deadline for submission of nominations on September 9, 2019.
“As such the Commission could not accept any fresh nominations. In like manner, since the parties did not submit valid nominations before the deadline, they cannot substitute the candidates on the grounds of death or voluntary withdrawal, in accordance with the Electoral Act2010 (as amended), which assumes the prior existence of valid nominations”, INEC said. .
The commission said that it had cause to draw the attention of political parties to the same problem of nominating underaged candidates, explaining communication was a notice to the parties that future violation of such a basic provision of the Constitution would be unacceptable and could lead to severe consequences.
Accordingly, it said that the Commission had informed the affected parties that their names and logos would not appear on the ballots for the Bayelsa and Kogi Governorship elections due to the invalidity of their nominations.
