Seventeen political parties made the deadline to choose candidates for the upcoming Edo State governorship election.
Before the governorship election, the Independent National Electoral Commission announced it would reveal the details of the 17 candidates and their running mates on March 30, 2024.
The state governorship election is set for September 21, 2024.
The details of the candidates will be posted by showing copies of Form EC9, academic credentials, and other documents submitted by each candidate at the State Headquarters and the 18 Local Government offices across the state.
Sam Olumekun, INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman of Information and Voter Education Committee, stated this on Wednesday.
Olumekun mentioned, “After the end of party primaries, 17 political parties uploaded their candidates’ nomination forms for the Edo State Governorship Election before the deadline of 6pm on March 24, 2024 when the dedicated portal automatically closed.
“The personal details of the governorship candidates and their running mates will be published on Saturday, March 30, 2024, a week after the last date for the submission of nominations as provided in Section 29(3) of the Electoral Act 2022.
“The commission will publish the personal details by displaying copies of Form EC9 along with all academic credentials and other documents submitted by each candidate at the State Headquarters and the 18 Local Government offices across Edo State.”
The commission urged Nigerians to examine the document (details of the candidates) when published.
“We urge Nigerians to examine the documents. Any aspirant who took part in his/her party primaries with valid reasons to believe that the information provided by the candidate is false can contest the nomination in a Federal High Court as provided in Section 29(5) of the Electoral Act 2022,” the National Commissioner said.
The INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, had last week expressed the frustration of the electoral body over the rancorous primary elections in various political parties before the September 21, 2024 governorship election in Edo.
Yakubu, who spoke in Abuja at the first regular quarterly consultative meeting with political parties, said INEC found the infighting within political parties disruptive of its activities, adding that INEC also wastes funds to defend litigation arising from controversial primaries.
The governorship primaries held by the three leading political parties, the All Progressives Congress, the Peoples Democratic Party; and Labour Party, were contentious.
The APC had to hold a second primary after the first one produced three ‘winners’.
For the PDP, there were two parallel primaries; while a similar situation occurred in the Labour Party.
The representative of Edo Central Senatorial District, Senator Monday Okpebholo, was declared the winner of the Edo State APC fresh primary election.
Also, the former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Olumide Akpata, won the governorship primary of the Edo State LP as the candidate for the party in the upcoming governorship election in the state.
Asue Ighodalo was chosen as the PDP candidate for the upcoming Edo poll.
