The chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has admonished political parties against actions targeted at stalling the Edo governorship elections exercise, heating the polity, or racking up unnecessary expenditures. The INEC chairman said the commission would not work at the pace of the political parties. He said less than six days to the close of nomination for the off-cycle governorship election in Edo State, only six political parties have so far submitted the names of their candidates for the election to the commission. Yakubu spoke yesterday as the National Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Yusuf Mamman Dantalle, accused some unnamed godfathers and reactionary forces from other political parties as responsible for the factionalization and imposition of candidates in political parties to ensure they conquer the electoral process.
Speaking at the first regular quarterly meeting between the commission and the political parties, Yakubu warned the political parties to abide by the scheduled timetable as released by the commission. The INEC chairman stressed that the commission would not extend the time for the parties to upload the names of their candidates to the commission’s dedicated portal. Commenting on the Ondo governorship election, Yakubu said: “For the Ondo State governorship election, party primaries begin in the next two weeks, on April 6, 2024, and end three weeks later April 27, 2024. So far, 16 out of 19 political parties have indicated interest in participating in the election. I urge political parties to adhere strictly to your proposed dates and modes of primaries. Frequent changes, as we witnessed recently during the Edo State primaries, are not only disruptive but costly.”
