The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on Thursday, January 17, cleared some candidates in the forthcoming general elections in Nigeria with some others unfortunate as they were disqualified.
INEC released a final presidential, senatorial and House of Representatives lists of candidates with the names of Donald Duke and Professor Jerry Gana, both contending candidates of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) disqualified.
Their vice presidential candidates were also omitted from the final list of the presidential candidates as the commission said this was done because of a pending case they have in court.
According to INEC, a total of 73 presidential candidates qualify for the election. These include that of the APC, Muhammadu Buhari; and that of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar.
Some others are Oby Ezekwesili, Christopher Okotie, Obaje Yusuf Ameh, Durotaye Adetokumbo, Salisu Yunusa Tanko and a female candidate, Angela Johnson Ann.
The list for the senatorial candidates had Orji Uzor Kalu, Rochas Okorocha and Ibikunle Amosun even though the last two have issues with their partym, the APC.
According to Mahmood Yakubu, INEC chairman, a total 73 candidates are contesting in the presidential election, 1,904 in the senatorial and 4,680 in the House of Representatives elections.
This makes a total of 6,657 candidates contesting for 470 seats.
Mahmood, who spoke while meeting with the Committee of Vice-Chancellors (CVC) in Abuja, said: “The final list of candidates for the governorship, state Assembly and FCT council elections would be released in two weeks on Thursday, January 31, 2019, in accordance with the commission’s timetable and schedule of activities.
“Collation of results will take place in 8,809 registration areas or wards, in 774 local government areas and 36 states and the FCT. In addition, we require returning officers for the elections.
“For the 2019 general elections, the commission would require some 10,603 staff to support the various collation and declaration processes. It is for this reason that this meeting is of crucial importance.
“We need the support of our universities to source the requisite number of interested academic staff on the understanding that this is essentially a national service.
“As in previous elections, we have requested each university for a specified number of academic staff as contained in my letter to the vice chancellors. Staff who are card-carrying members or have participated in partisan politics should not be nominated.
“Similarly, those who may not be involved in partisan political activities but are known to have obvious political leanings should not be nominated. The commission will carefully scrutinise the list which must be submitted confidentially in the manner prescribed by the commission in my letter to the vice chancellors.
“The commission always appreciates the support of the vice chancellors and the collaboration with the universities often under strenuous circumstances. We shall continue to work together in our collective effort to consolidate our democracy.”
While commending the lecturers for their assistance, the INEC boss said:
“Let me, first of all, express our appreciation to the Committee of Vice Chancellors for making this meeting possible at short notice. We equally appreciate the support of the National Universities Commission (NUC), the regulator of university education in Nigeria.
“Without the involvement of our tertiary institutions, especially the universities, the commission will find it extremely difficult to conduct credible elections.
“At the polling unit level, the critical segment of election duty staff is drawn from products of our universities and polytechnics involved in the mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme.
“For the various collation and declaration centres, the commission draws the required collation and returning officers from the academic staff of our universities, including the vice chancellors who serve as returning officers for governorship elections and collation officers for the presidential elections.
“It has been a happy collaboration which has further enhanced the transparency and credibility of the elections in Nigeria as well as public confidence in the process. The commission wishes to sustain and deepen this collaboration.
“It is less than a month to the 2019 general elections. On Saturday, February 16, 2019, elections will hold in 470 constituencies nationwide made up of the presidential, 190 senatorial and 360 federal constituencies. Two weeks later on Saturday, March 2, 2019, elections will hold in 1,088 constituencies made up of 29 governorship elections, 991 state constituencies and 68 area councils in the Federal Capital Territory. In summary, there are 1,553 constituencies for which elections will hold this year.
“The 2019 general elections will involve the highest number of registered voters and a record number of political parties. The final register of voters now stands at 84.004,084 while 91 political parties are contesting in different constituencies nationwide. Going by the timetable and schedule of activities released by the commission last year, the final list of nominated candidates for the presidential and National Assembly elections will be published today Thursday, January 17, 2019.”
