The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has called on the residents of Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi state to scrutinise the final list of candidates for the Nov. 11, 2023 governorship election in the three states and challenge any false claims by any of the candidates.
INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Barrister Festus Okoye said this in a statement.
He said that INEC is set to publish the personal particulars of the candidates participating in Imo, Bayelsa and Kogi governorship election.
Okoye said that the publication will be done in the state headquarters and local government offices in the three states in line with the provisions of Section 29 (3) of the Electoral Act 2022.
He said that all the 18 political parties nominated candidates for the Kogi, while 17 parties sponsored candidates for Bayelsa and Imo States.
“In particular, any aspirant who participated in his/her party’s primaries with reasonable grounds to believe that the information provided by the candidate is false can challenge the nomination at the Federal High Court as provided in Section 29(5) of the Electoral Act 2022.”
INEC released the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the three off-cycle Governorship elections in Bayelsa, lmo and Kogi scheduled to hold on Nov. 11 on October 25, 2022..
Political parties conducted their primaries as required by law and uploaded the names and personal particulars of their candidates and running mates to the INEC candidate nomination portal by the deadline of 6pm on May 5.
Okoye said that all the political parties sponsoring candidates for the three elections have submitted the duly completed Forms EC9 containing personal particulars supported by sworn affidavits as well as EC9B containing the names of their candidates.
AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.
