Ahead of the November 16 governorship elections in Bayelsa and Kogi States, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in compliance with section 34 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), will publish the full names and addresses of the 68 candidates standing nominated in the states’ offices and on the website of the Commission on Monday.
INEC said that at the close of the time stipulated by sections 31, 33 and 35 of Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended) for the submission of the names of nominated candidates, 49 nominations were received for Kogi State out of which 41 nominations were valid, while 8 were invalid.
Festus Okoye, INEC national commissioner and chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee in a statement said, subsequently, 18 political parties withdrew from contesting the elections, hence, 23 political parties will contest the governorship election in Kogi State.
Okoye explained that for Bayelsa, a total of 52 nominations were received out of which 46 were valid, while 6 were invalid and one political party has since withdrawn from the contest, leaving a total of 45 political parties to contest the governorship election in Bayelsa State.
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He disclosed that from INEC preliminary review of the list and personal particulars submitted by the parties at the close of nomination, some of the governorship and deputy governorship candidates were below the minimum age prescribed by the Constitution.
“By a letter dated September 13, 2019, the Commission notified the concerned political parties of the invalidity of their nominations. In Bayelsa State, six of the nominated governorship and/or deputy governorship candidates were affected, while in Kogi State there were eight such nominees.
“Some of the affected parties have written the Commission, admitting their error and requesting to submit new nominees to replace the under aged ones. However, this was after the deadline for submission of nominations on September 9, 2019.
“As such, the Commission could not accept any fresh nominations. In like manner, since the parties did not submit valid nominations before the deadline, they cannot substitute the candidates on the grounds of death or voluntary withdrawal, in accordance with the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), which assumes the prior existence of valid nominations.
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“Members of the public may recall that just before the 2019 general election, the Commission had cause to draw the attention of political parties to the same problem of nominating under aged candidates. That communication was a notice to the parties that future violation of such a basic provision of the Constitution would be unacceptable and could lead to severe consequences.
“Accordingly, the Commission has informed the affected parties that their names and logos will not appear on the ballots for the Bayelsa and Kogi governorship elections due to the invalidity of their nominations”, Okoye added.
The INEC chief spokesman further noted that “The Commission (INEC) monitored the primaries conducted by political parties for the nomination of candidates for the November 16, 2019 governorship elections in Bayelsa and Kogi States.
“On September 12, 2019, the Commission informed the public that 64 political parties conducted primaries in Bayelsa State and 59 in Kogi State. Out of these, 52 political parties for Bayelsa State and 49 for Kogi State, respectively, submitted the list and personal particulars of their candidates at the close of nomination at 6 pm on Monday, September 9, 2019”.
James Kwen, Abuja
