In a bid to position for advantage ahead of the 2023 elections, Nigeria’s two leading political parties have preoccupied themselves with how to outsmart each other while overlooking provisions in the new Electoral Act that could render their forthcoming primary elections invalid.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has constantly reminded the political parties about provisions in the Electoral Act that must be obeyed to the letter to guarantee their participation in the 2023 election.
One of such provisions is found in Section 77 of the Act which INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, said had not been complied with by 17 out of 18 political parties in the country recognised by the commission.
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The section mandates all registered political parties to make copies of their membership register available to INEC not later than 30 days before the conduct of their primary elections.
As of Friday, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), amongst others, have yet to comply with this requirement.
A source at INEC told THE WHISTLER on Friday that only the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has fulfilled the vital condition while the APC and the PDP, which have both fixed dates for their primaries, are yet to comply.
Section 77 (2) of the Electoral Act mandates that “Every registered political party shall maintain a register of its members in both hard and soft copy,” while Section 77 (3) stipulates that “Each political party shall make such register available to the Commission not later than 30 days before the date fixed for the party primaries, congresses or convention.”
The INEC Chairman had during his second quarterly meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja on Friday revealed that “So far, only one political party has complied.”
Yakubu warned, “It is a mandatory requirement of the law and all parties are required to comply. Doing otherwise is like going into an election without the register of voters. There can be no credible primary or general election without a credible register of voters.”
It was not the first time Yakubu would be cautioning political parties against breaching provisions in the electoral law.
In early April, he advised the political parties against undermining INEC’s guidelines on the 2023 general elections, warning that the commission would not tolerate any attempt by the parties to ignore constitutionally-allowed processes in conducting their primary elections for the nomination of candidates.
“Where a political party fails to comply with the provisions of the Act in the conduct of its primaries, its candidate shall not be included in the election for the particular position in issue,” Yakubu had advised in a statement issued by INEC’s spokesperson, Festus Okoye.
With INEC’s deadline for conducting all primary elections expiring on June 3, the APC was reported to have written the commission notifying it of the party’s decision to hold its 2023 presidential primary election from May 30 to June 1.
At the end of APC’s National Executive Committee (NEC) held on Wednesday, the party’s spokesperson, Felix Morka, had disclosed that the governorship primaries will hold on May 18, State House of Assembly, May 20; House of Representatives, May 22; and Senate, May 24.
Going by provisions of Section 77 of the Electoral Act and INEC’s timetable and schedule of activities for the 2023 elections, APC’s primary elections for the nomination of governorship, state houses of assembly, and the House of Representatives have fallen short of the required 30 days for submission of the membership register.
Meanwhile, THE WHISTLER analysis showed that the reason why the APC and PDP may have delayed the conduct of their respective primaries was so as to observe the regions where their presidential candidates will emerge from to aid their permutations for the 2023 polls.