INEC To Akpabio: ‘The Train Has Left The Station…You Stand Rejected’

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that the primary election that produced Senator Godswill Akpabio as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the Akwa Ibom North-West senatorial district stands rejected by it.

The APC had conducted a primary election that produced DIG Udom Udo Ekpoudom (Rtd) as the party’s candidate for the senatorial district but later held a different primary that saw Akpabio emerge as the winner.

The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Akwa Ibom State, Mike Igini, reiterated that the commission’s rejection of Akpabio as the party’s senatorial candidate for the district is final and cannot be reversed.

Akpabio had resigned his appointment as the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs to contest the recent APC presidential primary.

He, however, withdrew at the last-minute and endorsed Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu who eventually won the presidential ticket.

Following Akpabio’s failed presidential bid, the APC voided its initial senatorial primary election for the district and held a fresh one that produced the ex-minister as its candidate.

But speaking on the Uyo-based Comfort FM on Tuesday, the INEC REC in Akwa Ibom ruled out the possibility of recognizing Akpabio as APC’s candidate for the Akwa Ibom North West senatorial district.

Igini said even if APC was to conduct a rerun or fresh primary, Akpabio’s name cannot be on the ballot as he was not among the aspirants that participated in the first primary.

“By virtue of Section 31 of the 2022 Electoral Act, the only way somebody can be replaced in any form is that we no longer have substitution by political party. What you have now is withdrawal by individual or nominee and or death.

“The law is not saying you should go and kill people so that you can have yourself on the ballot. No. The law is saying that those who have emerged at all levels up to the presidential level, you can decide that you are no longer interested. You can write an application signed by yourself, delivered to your party who will now deliver to INEC, but nobody can shave the political head of another person in his or her absence.

“The report of the Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District APC primary as submitted to INEC headquarters in Abuja is final. It is concluded. The train has left the station. The timeline is clear. All those who are in politics should go and study the 2022 Electoral Act very well.

“I hear people talk about substitution. If you look at Section 31 and Section 34 of the Electoral Act, those of you who are still carrying the old idea of the 2010, 2012 Electoral Act in your head, thinking you can substitute wilfully, it is no longer so.

“Then number two is only in the case of death. Even at that, there will now be a fresh primary. This is the new law. So, what we are seeing going on is clearly a misnomer. The rerun can only be conducted between and among those who participated in the first Senatorial election of May 27, 2022 and the Senatorial primary for Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District was not cancelled, was not nullified, was not inconclusive. It was conclusive, it was concluded and the report was written and it is final because you cannot reopen that anymore,” Igini stated.

The INEC REC had earlier declared that the APC has no governorship candidate in Akwa Ibom, saying “the governorship primary where Mr Akanimo Udofia emerged winner was not monitored by INEC.”