Candidate Nomination: INEC Rejects Allegations of Compromise, Insists on State Monitoring Reports

9^th July 2022

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared that it would continue to stand by the Monitoring Reports it received from its state offices on the party primaries for the Akwa Ibom North West and Yobe North Senatorial Districts.

Clarifying speculations about the said primaries circulating on the social media, the Commission affirmed that having monitored the primaries relating to the two senatorial districts, it did not publish the personal particulars of any candidate for the two constituencies at variance with the State reports.

Insinuations had emerged on the social media on Saturday 9^th July, giving the false impression that the Commission had accepted the names of certain candidates for the two senatorial districts. But the Commission, in a swift reaction, debunked the rumours.

In a statement signed by National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee (IVEC), Festus Okoye, the Commission described the allegations on the Akwa Ibom North West and Yobe North Senatorial Districts as an attempt the impugn its integrity. 

Okoye said: “To set the record straight, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria mandates the Commission to monitor the organization and operation of political parties, including their finances, conventions, congresses, and party primaries. 

“In line with its constitutional and legal obligations, the Commission deployed monitors to the various constituencies and received reports of such exercise. In relation to the primaries for the Akwa Ibom North West and Yobe North Senatorial Districts, the Commission stands by the monitoring reports received from our State offices. 

“For this reason, the Commission did not publish the personal particulars of any candidate for the two constituencies at variance with the State reports. Right now, the Commission is funtus officio in the two cases. Aggrieved parties are at liberty to approach the Federal High Court and seek redress as provided in section 285 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and sections 29(5) and 84(14) of the Electoral Act, 2022.”

On the issuance of Certified True Copies (CTCs) of documents, Okoye observed that the Commission’s staff had been working hard, including on weekends, to meet the deluge of requests. 

He revealed that as at Friday 8^th July 2022, the Commission had processed 433 requests involving the certification of 1,662,776 pages of documents. Interestingly, many of the documents, he noted, “are awaiting collection at the INEC headquarters by some of the applicants complaining of delay in issuance of the CTCs.”

Commissioner Okoye assured Nigerians that INEC would continue to uphold the integrity of the electoral process, including the deepening of the deployment of technology to enhance the credibility of elections.