LAGOS: Jandor Claims APC, LP Did Not Comply With Electoral Act At Primaries

The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 governorship election in Lagos State, Abdul-Azeez Olajide Adediran, popularly known as Jandor, has said that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and Labour Party (LP) did not comply with the 2022 Electoral Act at their respective party primaries.

Citing the Electoral Act, Adediran said that for a primary election to be held, there must be a notification from a political party to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), indicating the date and venue, which must have the backing of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party.

According to him, the notifications sent to INEC by both the APC and LP were signed by the state chapters of the respective parties, not the NEC, which he said is in contradiction to the Act.

Adediran stated this on Wednesday during an interview on Arise TV monitored by THE WHISTLER.

“In our case, we have submitted before the tribunal fact that these two political parties [APC and LP] did not comply with the provisions of that law, and throughout the trial, they did not submit anything to contradict that position, including calling witnesses and all that.

“Secondly, under Section 84 (5b1) of the Electoral Act, it says that for a primary election to be held, there must be a notification (or) communication from the political party to INEC that will speak about the date and venue, which must be authorized by the national body of the party (NEC).

“The two political parties did not also comply with this because the notification they sent to INEC was signed by the state chapter of the party, which is contrary to that provision. And under Section 84 (13) of the Electoral Act, it says failure to do that means your candidate will not be included in that election; it was (is) clear,” he said.

Adediran is seeking disqualification of both the candidate of APC, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and that of LP, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour.

“At this point, the job is already done; the facts are before the court, and there’s nothing to add or remove. Our petition is premised on the disqualification of both candidates.

“Elections in Nigeria are held under certain rules provided by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Part of these rules is that whoever wants to run for the office of governor, especially in Lagos State or any other state in Nigeria, must be a member of a political party who must sponsor such a person for that election.

“That is Section 177 (c) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended). Sponsorship includes holding a valid primary and making sure such a candidate did not submit falsified information or documents to INEC. That is taken care of by Section 182 of the Constitution,” he noted.

The Section 82 (1) of the Electoral Act states that “Every registered political party shall give the Commission at least 21 days’ notice of any convention, congress, conference or meeting convened for the purpose of “merger” and electing members of its executive committees, other governing bodies or nominating candidates for any of the elective offices specified under this Act.”

Sub-sections (4) and (5) state that “Notice of any congress, conference or meeting for the purpose of nominating candidates for Area Council elections shall be given to the Commission at least 21 days before such congress, conference or meeting.

“Failure of a political party to notify the Commission as stated in subsection (1) shall render the convention, congress, conference or meeting invalid.”

Also, the Section 84(1) and (2) of the 2022 Electoral Act states that “A political party seeking to nominate candidates for elections under this Act shall hold primaries for aspirants to all elective positions which shall be monitored by the Commission.

“The procedure for the nomination of candidates by political parties for the various elective positions shall be by direct, indirect primaries or consensus.”

Section 84 (3) states that “A political party shall not impose nomination qualification or disqualification criteria, measures, or conditions on any aspirant or candidate for any election in its constitution, guidelines, or rules for nomination of candidates for elections, except as prescribed under sections 65, 66, 106, 107, 131, 137, 177 and 187 of the Constitution.

On direct primaries, Sub-section (4) states thus: “A political party that adopts the direct primaries procedure shall ensure that all aspirants are given equal opportunity of being voted for by members of the party and shall adopt the procedure outlined—(a) in the case of presidential primaries, all registered members of the party shall vote for aspirants of their choice at a designated centre at each ward of the Federation ; (b) the procedure under paragraph (a) shall be adopted for direct primaries in respect of Gubernatorial, Senatorial, Federal and State Constituencies,”

The PDP candidate is relying on Section 136 (2) to be declared winner of the election by the Election Tribunal, currently sitting in Ikeja.

“There is nothing controverting everything that we have presented before the tribunal and we are relying strongly on the provision of the law, especially section 136, subsection 2 of the electoral act which says where the tribunal or court nullifies an election of a person who has the highest number of votes on the base that he was not qualified prior to contest that election, the second person with the second highest number of votes will be declared the winner provided that such a person is also a member of his political party and also satisfy the provision of the electoral act, otherwise, the next person takes it and this is where we are on that.

“So, if they are going to look at everything and this section comes to play, then the two votes are wasted votes because prior they were not qualified. The law doesn’t deal with emotions,” he said.