The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on Tuesday said that the deregistered political parties that got judgement at the Appeal Court on Monday would not participate in the forthcoming governorship elections in Ondo and Edo states.
INEC gave the disclosure while speaking at a webinar organised by the International Press Centre (IPC) for journalists in Ondo State ahead of the 10 gubernatorial election.
Recall that the Appeal Court on Monday set aside the judgment of a Federal High Court in Abuja which held that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has the power to deregister political parties.
Meanwhile, about 32 political parties had approached the High Court seeking order to set aside the decision of INEC to deregister 74 political parties in the country that failed to meet constitutional requirements to function as political parties.
But, the court refused the prayers of the plaintiffs and upheld the constitutional powers of INEC to deregister political parties.
But, according to the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, since the window of conducting primaries by political parties had expired under the election guidelines, no new party will be accommodated again.
The training is tagged, “Webinar/Virtual Capacity Building Session On Professional, Factual, Conflict Sensitive and Safety-Conscious Reporting Of The Ondo State Governorship Election”.
No fewer than forty journalists participated in the webinar organised by IPC in collaboration with the Ondo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
Oyekanmi, however said the judgement of the Appeal Court on the reinstatement of the delisted political parties would not affect preparations for the two governorship elections.
In his own comments, Martins Oloja, of the Guardian newspaper, said sensationalism and fake news of any form should not be encouraged as professional journalists stressing that time has come for all media practitioners to come out of wood and embrace digital journalism.
