Candidates disappointed as INEC fails to issue lists

Prof. Jega of INEC

The much-awaited approved lists of candidates for the April general elections were not displayed on Sunday by the Independent National Electoral Commission.


INEC had in its timetable for the polls fixed February 6 as the date for candidates whose names were submitted by their respective political parties to know if they would contest the elections or not.


But on Sunday many of the candidates who thronged the commission’s offices in most states and the Federal Capital Territory left for their homes after an endless wait for the lists.

Some of the candidates told our correspondents that no concrete reasons were given to them by the commission’s officials for the non-display of the lists.

Mr. Kayode Idowu, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, had told one of our correspondents earlier on Sunday that the lists had been circulated simultaneously to the 36 states of the federation and FCT ahead of today’s (Sunday) planned release.

Idowu said “The list has been sent to the various states where they are supposed to be displayed. It may be displayed here today (Sunday) or tomorrow(today) but the actual display is in the states.”

He advised candidates and other stakeholders interested in verifying the lists to visit their states and FCT INEC offices.

Asked whether the list had been uploaded on the official website of INEC, Idowu said he was not aware if that had been done.

INEC received candidates list from 43 political parties by midnight last Monday and additional lists on Friday from 12 parties that could not meet the earlier deadline.

Thus, out of the 63 parties registered with INEC, eight parties could not submit their lists for consideration.

With the exception of the Federal Capital Territory, Oyo, Plateau and Edo states where the INEC offices confirmed they had received their lists, the Resident Electoral Commissioners in other states said they were yet to get theirs.

Before the FCT REC, Mr. Eugene Amaju, confirmed the receipt of the list, politicians in the terrory had left the office complaining about the non-display of the list.

But Amaju explained that the list could be displayed because his office was still making photocopies of the list.

He said, “We apologise for the little delay. We received one set of the (candidates) list from our Headquarters and we are in the process of photocopying it to send to the various area councils; but I can assure you this will be done before midnight. “

In Ibadan, Oyo State, INEC’s list which was released late on Sunday, showed that Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala, former Governor Rashidi Ladoja, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, and Alhaji Adebayo Shittu had been cleared to contest the governorship poll in the state.

Alao-Akala will do so on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party; Ladoja, Accord Party; Ajimobi, Action Congress of Nigeria; and Shittu, Congress for Progressive Change.

The spokesman of INEC in the state, Mr. Ayodele Folami, told one of our correspondents on the telephone at about 8.30pm on Sunday, that Chief Jumoke Akinjide, daughter of a former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Richard Akinjide, was also given the nod to contest the Oyo Central Senatorial election on the platform of the PDP.

She is seeking to replace the Senate Leader, Mr. Teslim Folarin.

The other two senatorial candidates cleared alongside Jumoke, are Mr. Kamorudeen Adedibu, son of the late Ibadan politician, Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu, and a former Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr. Hosea Agboola.

All the candidates of the ACN and the Accord Party were also cleared to contest the elections by INEC.

Folami, who said that the list was still being pasted as the time he spoke with THE PUNCH, added that the Form CF 001 which is the nomination forms submitted by the candidates were the ones returned from the INEC headquarters as an indications that the candidates had been cleared.

But in Ondo State , a PDP National Assembly candidate, who declined to give his name, said, “We have spent more than two hours here waiting for the list to be displayed.

“As we talk all that we have been told is that the list is being awaited from Abuja. So, all indications point to the fact that the list might not be out today (Sunday),” he said at the Alagbaka, Akure office of INEC.

The Administrative Secretary of INEC in the state, Dr. Samson Awujoola, told journalists that the list would be displayed whenever the official bringing it from Abuja arrived.

At the Ikpoba Hill, Benin office of the electoral commission in Edo State, an Action Congress of Nigeria candidate for the National Assembly, said it was unfortunate that INEC could not display the lists as scheduled.

He said, “I can’t imagine why INEC has not displayed the list. It is not unlikely that they (INEC) will cite today being Sunday as reason.

“But they should have pasted the lists on their notice board on Saturday night since they knew that they would not be on duty today (Sunday). We are anxious to see the lists and all that they have done is to disappoint us.”

When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of INEC in the state, Mrs. Imodu Sule, said, “We received the prelimnary list for clarifications and complaints.”

She, however, added that the body was “currently duplicating the pages for transmission to the zonal offices of the commission in the state.”

Osun State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Ambassador Rufus Akeju, said that the list of candidates had not been made available to his office by the INEC national headquarters.

“We don’t have the list in Osun. You will need to go to Abuja to get the list. We don’t have it here,” Akeju said in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents.

Akeju’s counterpart in Rivers State, Mr. Aniedi Ikoiwak, also confirmed that the list was yet to reach the commission’s office in Port Harcourt.

Ikoiwak explained that even if the listed arrived on Sunday, it would not be possible to display it the same day.

“We don’t know when they will arrive. But we assure you that we will display the list tomorrow (Monday). As soon as those from Abuja arrive, we will start photocopying it,” he said.

In Enugu State, INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mr. Josiah Uwazuruonye, said there was no announcement that the list would be made public on Sunday.

“We have no such plan to paste the names of candidates of various political parties that would be vying for elective positions in April 2011 today (Sunday). The list should be ready as from Monday (today),” Uwazuruonye said.

Our correspondent in Minna, Niger State visited the office of the commission and found it quiet as no politician was around to demand for the list.

However, officials of INEC said that the list could not be displayed because they were yet to receive the list from their national headquarters in Abuja.

In Jos, the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mr. Habu Zarma, said he had just received the list from Abuja.

He assured that the list would be displayed on Monday (today)

The list for Kano State was also yet to arrive in Kano as at 5pm when one of our correspondents visited the state headquarters of INEC.

But INEC’s Assistant Director, Public Affair, Mallam Garba Ibrahim, said that they were on ground to receive the list whenever it arrived.

“The list of candidates is a public document. Whenever it arrives, it will be pasted for everyone to see. Our officials are on alert to receive them when they are brought in. They will be pasted for everyone to see,” Ibrahim said.

John Alechenu, Tunde Odesola, Sunday Aborisade, Chukwudi Akasike, Mustapha Salihu, James Azania, Segun Olatunji,Ozioma Ubabukoh, Olalekan Adetayo and Mike Odiegwu,
Source:Punch