INEC clears 17 political parties to contest Edo governorship election in Sept.
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has disclosed that 17 political parties will contest the September 21 Edo governorship election after fielding candidates for the exercise.
INEC stated this in a statement by its National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr Sam Olumekun in Abuja, Wednesday.
Olumekun said that the 17 parties had successfully uploaded their candidates’ nomination forms for the election on the INEC portal before the 6 p.m., deadline of March 24 when the dedicated portal automatically shut down.
He said that the personal particulars of the candidates and their running mates would be published by the commission on March 30 in line with Section 29(3) of the Electoral Act, 2022.
“The commission shall publish the personal particulars 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,” he said.
Olumekun who appealed to Nigerians to scrutinise the documents when published, added that ‘any aspirant who participated in his/her party primaries with reasonable grounds to believe that the information provided by the candidate was false could challenge the nomination.’
According to the INEC spokesperson, ‘such could be changed in a Federal High Court as provided in Section 29(5) of the Electoral Act, 2022.’
