Bayelsa/Kogi guber: No legitimate candidate disqualified - INEC
- INEC says disqualified candiadates for Kogi, Bayelsa election were not validly nominated
- Festus Okoye disclosed this during a “Youth Campus” sensitisation programme organised by the commission
- Going further, INEC said political parties should be blamed for presenting candidates that did not meet the minimum requirements
In reaction to news that it disqualified candidates for Bayelsa and Kogi gubernatorial elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has claimed that it did not disqualify anybody.
The electoral umpire said they were actually not validly nominated by their political parties.
This was disclosed by Festus Okoye, chairman, information and voter education committee, on Thursday, October 3, during a “Youth Campus” sensitisation programme organised by the commission at the Niger-Delta University, Amassoma, Bayelsa.
Okoye was reacting to claims by the candidates that they were disqualified by INEC.
According to him, political parties should be blamed for presenting candidates that did not meet the minimum requirements as spelt out by the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.
“No qualified candidate was disqualified, so, since some of the political parties did not submit valid nominations, the commission decided not to put them on ballot," he said.
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Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that the Natasha Akpoti Campaign Organization condemned and rejected the disqualification of the governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Barrister Natasha Akpoti, on the grounds of the age of her running mate.
In a press statement issued on Saturday, September 28, by the spokesman of the organisation, Odaudu Joel Minister, he said the decision is inconsistent with INEC allowing gubernatorial candidates/running mates of same age with or even younger than the SDP candidate in several political parties in states across the country to contest in the 2019 general elections.
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Source: Legit.ng
