Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has given political parties up till Friday, June 17 to submit names of their presidential, and governorship candidates with their running mates to the commission.
INEC gave the ultimatum in a post Thursday by its Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, on the Commission’s official Twitter handle.
The post read: “For emphasis, the Commission wishes to remind Political Parties that only the names of candidates that emerged from democratic primaries as provided by Sec. 84 of the Electoral Act 2022 shall be submitted to the Commission.
“Similarly, the list of all Presidential and Governorship candidates must be accompanied by the names of their running mates (i.e. Vice Presidential and Deputy Governorship candidates) without which the nomination is invalid.
“All nominations must be uploaded to the portal on/or before the deadlines. The portal will automatically shut down at 6.00pm (1800hrs) on Friday 17th June 2022 for national elections and 6.00pm (1800hrs) on Friday 15th July 2022 for State elections.
“With this innovation, the Commission has eliminated the physical interface between party officials and INEC staff for the purpose of submitting the list of candidates for the 2023 General Election.”
