Three days to the deadline for nomination of candidates for the 2023 general elections, two political parties, the New Nigeria People’s Party NNPP and the African Action Congress AAC are yet to upload their candidates for the polls.
While a former Kano state Governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso is the presidential candidate of NNPP, Sahara Reporters Publisher, Omoyele Sowore is the standard bearer of the AAC.
Neither of the parties have submitted their names or those of their candidates for other offices.
Giving an update on the candidate nomination process, INEC National Commissioner in charge of Information and Voter Education Committee, Barr. Festus Okoye in a statement on Wednesday said so far, the Commission has processed 6,995 nomination forms (EC9) uploaded by 16 out of 18 political parties for the constituencies where they intend to sponsor candidates.
“However, two political parties, the African Action Congress AAC and New Nigeria Peoples Party NNPP, are yet to upload a single nomination to the portal”, he stated.
As provided for in the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2023 General Election which INEC released in February 2022, all political parties that conducted valid primaries are required to nominate their candidates for Governorship, Deputy Governorship and State Assembly elections via the INEC Candidate Nomination Portal (ICNP) from 1st – 15th July 2022.
“The Commission hereby reminds all political parties that they have three days left to upload their list of candidates to the ICNP. The deadline is Friday 15th July 2022. The portal will automatically shut down at 6.00pm on that date”, Okoye added.
Meanwhile, the Commission said it has continuously responded to requests for the issuance of Certified True Copies CTCs of documents mainly arising from the conduct of party congresses, primaries and nomination of candidates.
“The number of requests processed has now risen to one million, six hundred and sixty-two thousand, nine hundred and eighty seven (1,662,987) pages of documents. Sadly, in spite of the Commission’s effort, 147 out of 476 requests processed as at today involving 5,646 pages are yet to be collected by applicants.
“The Commission appeals to prospective litigants to come forward and collect the certified copies of the documents”.