The Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), has finally extended the time schedule for the 2023 General Elections, after initially refusing to do so.
INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman of Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, announced this in a statement yesterday, in Abuja.
Okoye said the Commission would extend the June 3 deadline for party primaries by six days.
He said, “Earlier, the political parties had requested for 37 – 60 days extension of the timeline for primaries and the nomination of candidates. The Commission was emphatic that this request could not be granted because it would disrupt other scheduled activities on the Timetable. This position of the Commission has not changed.
“However, based on the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2023 General Election, the parties have now pleaded with the Commission to use the 6-day period between 4th and 9th June 2022 to conclude outstanding primaries and prepare to upload the list of candidates and their affidavits on the INEC Candidates Nomination Portal. The Commission did not schedule any specific activity during this period”.
He further said, “The Commission has decided to allow the request of the political parties since the six-day period does not conflict with the next scheduled activity which is the submission of the list of nominated candidates or any of the subsequent timelines which remain sacrosanct.
“However, this request is granted in respect of outstanding primaries only, without prejudice to those already concluded by political parties. The Commission will not monitor already-concluded primaries.
He further explained that, “After the conduct of primaries, the next critical activity for political parties is the online submission of the list of the candidates the party proposes to sponsor, which shall be accompanied by an affidavit sworn to by the candidates indicating that they fulfilled all the constitutional requirements for election into the various offices via the INEC Candidates Nomination Portal.
“Unfortunately, some of the political parties are still yet to submit their nominees for the training. The Commission hereby reminds such parties to do so immediately. The Commission wishes to reiterate that only electronically submitted nominations will be processed.
“Political parties are therefore advised to ensure that their primaries are free of rancour in order to meet the timelines for the remaining activities embodied in the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2023 General Election”.
Recall that the 18 political parties in the country had last month pushed for the alteration of the elections timetable. However, the move was hitherto rebuffed by the Commission.
