79 candidates for presidential election

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday said it received nominations from 79 political parties for the 2019 presidential election and 6,352 for the National Assembly.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu disclosed this while addressing newsmen in Abuja on update on the implementation of activities for the 2019 general elections.

The breakdown of the nominations for NASS according to Yakubu, is 1,856 nominations for the 109 Senate seats, and 4,496 nominations for the House of Representatives with 360 seats.

Answering questions on the Supreme Court judgment on the All Progressives Congress (APC) Rivers State chapter primaries, Yakubu said that INEC was still awaiting the full text of the judgment to determine its next action.

Also asked of update on INEC decision that APC Zamfara could not file in candidates for NASS elections, Yakubu said that the matter was still in three High Courts.

“However, INEC did not receive any submission from APC Zamfara state. I will not say more than that because the matter is still in court.’’

He said that three out of the outlined activities toward the 2019 general elections had been implemented starting with the publication of official notice for the elections.

These, according to him, include submission of list and personal particulars of candidates that emerged from party’s primaries for Presidential and National Assembly elections from Oct. 10 to Oct. 18.

Yakubu urged the general public to use the opportunity of the publication of the forms and particulars of the political parties’ nominated candidates at its offices across the nation, to raise their claims and objections.

He said that the publication was for citizens to ascertain the personal details of the candidates to enable them to take informed decisions on election day.

“Any person with reasonable ground to believe that any information on Form CF001 submitted by a candidate contains incorrect or false claims is at liberty to file an action against such candidate.

“This can be filed at the Federal High Court or the High Court of a state or the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

“The current exercise is limited to candidates for Presidential and National Assembly elections.

“That of personal particulars of those contesting in Governorship and State Assembly elections will be similarly published on Nov. 9, one week after the close of submission of nominations by political parties.’’

Yakubu also disclosed that the register of voters for each polling unit would be displayed at the units nationwide for one week from Nov.6 to Nov. 12 for claims and objections.

He said that the Commission had cleaned up the register, using the Automatic Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS).

He added that citizens were allowed to examine the register and exercise their civic duty by drawing the attention of INEC to the prevalence of any ineligible persons to further clean it up.

“The Commission will also appreciate the assistance of citizens in identifying deceased persons on the register so that such names can be annulled from our record.

“It is also an opportunity to correct misspellings of personal details such as names, age and gender.’’

Yakubu also disclosed that INEC recently received declaration of vacancies to conduct by-elections, following the election of two serving members of the House of Representatives as Senators in the by-elections conducted on Aug. 11.

“The Speaker has declared consequential vacancies in the Toro Federal Constituency in Bauchi State and the Kankia/Kusada/Ingawa Federal Constituency in Katsina State.

“Similarly, the Cross River State House of Assembly has declared vacancy in Ikom II State Constituency following the death of the member representing the Constituency. Consequently, the Commission will conduct by-elections in the three (3) constituencies.

“We have directed our Resident Electoral Commissioners in Bauchi, Katsina and Cross River State to convene stakeholders’ meetings immediately and prepare for the by-elections latest by Saturday Nov. 17.

“Detailed timetable and schedule of activities for the by-elections will be released on Tuesday next week.’’

Yakubu assured Nigerians that preparations for the 2019 General Elections were proceeding in earnest and according to the detailed timetable and schedule of activities released by the commission.

“It is exactly 112 days to the elections. We shall continue to faithfully and consistently implement the timetable and all activities.’’