The Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) has reminded political parties to strive to meet up with next week’s deadline for the submission of the list of candidates for the next general elections.
Chairman of the Commission, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, made the declaration on Thursday at a meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners.
He disclosed that a portal has been dedicated to receiving the details of the candidates of the 18 political parties eligible to field candidates.
He said: “Turning to the nomination of candidates by Political Parties for the 2023 General Election, all primaries end today Thursday 9th June 2022. For the next one week from tomorrow 10th June 2022, all Political Parties are required to submit their list of candidates for national elections (Presidential/Vice Presidential, Senatorial and House of Representatives) latest by Friday 17th June 2022. For State elections (Governorship/Deputy Governorship and State Houses of Assembly), the list of candidates shall be uploaded from 1st to 15th July 2022 as already provided in the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2023 General Election already released by the Commission.
“All Political Parties are required to upload the details of their candidates for each constituency to the INEC Candidate Nomination Portal (ICNP). To achieve this objective, four officials recommended by each of the 18 political parties were trained on the procedure for uploading the nomination forms to the dedicated web portal. Confidential Access Codes to the portal have already been given to each Political Party to facilitate the uploading of its nominations.
“For emphasis, the Commission wishes to remind Political Parties that only the names of candidates that emerged from democratic primaries as provided by Sec. 84 of the Electoral Act 2022 shall be submitted to the Commission.
Similarly, the list of all Presidential and Governorship candidates must be accompanied by the names of their running mates (i.e. Vice Presidential and Deputy Governorship candidates) without which the nomination is invalid. All nominations must be uploaded to the portal on/or before the deadlines.
The portal will automatically shut down at 6.00 pm (1800hrs) on Friday 17th June 2022 for national elections and 6.00 pm (1800hrs) on Friday 15th July 2022 for State elections. With this innovation, the Commission has eliminated the physical interface between party officials and INEC staff for the purpose of submitting the list of candidates for the 2023 General Election.”
“On the Continuous Voters Registration, Professor Yakubu noted that there has been an upsurge in the registration by prospective and assured that the electoral body has made adequate preparations in terms of provision of additional registration machines.
Professor Yakubu commended Nigerians who have remained committed to performing their civic responsibilities despite security challenges hindering the smooth conduct of registration in some states.
“Unfortunately, in some places, the exercise was disrupted by general insecurity. In other places, our Local Government Areas offices were consistently attacked resulting in the suspension of all activities, including voter registration.
A number of IVED machines were snatched and uncollected Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) were destroyed. Worse, our registration officials were violently attacked. Some of them were abducted but later released.
In one sad incident, an official lost his life.
“Despite these challenges, the CVR has continued nationwide.
However, as the deadline for the suspension of the current exercise approaches, the Commission has received reports of a surge in the number of prospective registrants that daily throng our State and Local Government Area offices as well as designated centres in many states across the country.
I wish to reassure Nigerians that the Commission remains committed to ensuring that all citizens who wish to register are given the opportunity to do so. This is one of the reasons why this meeting has been convened. Already, some of the Resident Electoral Commissioners have requested more voter registration machines to ease the congestion.
The Commission will deploy additional machines to areas of need immediately. Thereafter, the Commission will meet to review the progress of the exercise and take further decisions.
We will always respond positively to the needs of Nigerians and therefore appeal to all citizens to be patient with the Commission as we strive to serve them better. We appreciate the desire of Nigerians to register as voters.
Let me reassure all eligible registrants that no one will be left out.”
YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
Revealed! Details Of South-West APC Leaders Meeting With Presidential Aspirants
MORE revelations have emerged about Friday’s meeting held by South-West leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) with aspirants from the zone, whose main objective, was on how to avert a crisis that will create a fractured party as it prepares for primary on May 30 and 31, Sunday Tribune has reliably gathered…
2023: You have one week to submit list of nominated candidates, INEC reminds political parties
Supreme Court Has Cleared Civil Servants To Participate In Politics, Falana Tells FG
2023: You have one week to submit list of nominated candidates, INEC reminds political parties
and then