Victor EzejaNational Legal Adviser of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ahmad Usman El-Marzuq has faulted the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for rejecting names of candidates submitted to it by the party for the 2023 election.
There is a raging controversy over INEC’s refusal to accept some candidates contesting for Senatorial positions submitted by the ruling party.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelPrime Business Africa exclusively gathered that the APC national legal adviser, through a position paper submitted to the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party on the matter, stated that the electoral body does not have the powers to reject name of any candidate submitted by a political party.
El-Marzuq in the document, argued that given the provisions of relevant sections of the Electoral Act 2022 and some judicial precedents, the commission can only accept names of candidates submitted to it by political parties.
He explained that it is the exclusive right of political parties to nominate candidates for various electoral positions while the law court reserves the right to determine whether such candidates emerged through processes that do not violate the provisions of the Electoral Act or other rules and regulations guiding the conduct of such elections.
The legal expert cited in the document, section 84(11) of the Electoral Act 2022 which states that where a political party fails to comply with the provisions of the Act in the conduct of its primaries, its candidate for election shall not be included in the election for the particular position in issue.
He further argued that it is only when the court has determined that a candidate was not validly nominated by the party that INEC can go ahead to reject the candidate, usually, before the election.
“It is not out of place to state that the Act considered that by the date of the election, any action challenging the submission of the name of a Political Party’s candidate, would have been dispensed with at the Courts and the Commission can have the legal backing to reject such a candidate but NOT before,” El-Marzuq explained.
He further stated that while the electoral body is empowered by the constitution and electoral laws to monitor or witness the conduct of primaries by political parties and collate report, the commission does not have the power to rely on its report to disqualify a candidate whose name is submitted by the party.
He said such report can only be used by the courts in determining whether a candidate was validly nominated or not.
In his words, “These election reports are often relied upon by the Courts in reaching its decision as to whether or not a political party duly complied with the provisions of the Electoral Act in the nomination of its candidates.
“However, it must be reiterated that nowhere was INEC empowered to rely on its own reports in reaching a verdict that a political party violated the provision of the Electoral Act and proceed to reject its candidate.
“That power is the exclusive reserve of the Federal High Court as provided for in Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act 2022 (as amended) and only on the condition that a political party did not abide by its own constitution, its guidelines or the provisions of the Electoral Act. An action that can only be instituted by an aspirant who participated in the primary election complained of,” the APC national legal adviser stated.
INEC had rejected APC’s senatorial candidates for Akwa Ibom North West, Ebonyi South and Yobe North Senatorial Districts.
For Akwa Ibom North West, APC submitted name of senator Godswill Akpabio as the candidate but the commission rejected it, stating that he was not among the aspirants that participated in the primary election and the electoral law does not allow substitution. The APC had conducted a primary election that produced Udom Udo Ekpoudom as the party’s candidate for the senatorial district but later held a different primary that saw Akpabio emerge as the winner, after the later had participated in the presidential primary and stepped down for Tinubu who won the ticket.
A similar thing happened in Yobe North Senatorial District where Bashir Sheriff Machina was said to have won the primaries only for the party to conduct another exercise not monitored by INEC, and the senate president, Ahmad Lawan was nominated as candidate which INEC also refused to recognise. Lawan also participated in the presidential primary but couldn’t win.
Machina had also publicly declared that he has not withdrawn from the contest, but APC leadership is insisting on having Lawan as the candidate for the senatorial district.
The APC national legal adviser, however, argued that interpretation of the provisions of the Electoral Act means that INEC has no power to exercise such discretion of rejecting a candidate nominated by the party.
He said, “It is on this premise that I opine that the Independent National Electoral Commission has gone ahead of itself in rejecting the Party’s candidate for Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District, Ebonyi South Senatorial District and Yobe North Senatorial District as it has usurped the powers of the Court and gone ultra vires its own powers by ensuring that only ‘validly’ nominated candidates of a political party are accepted.”
He said that INEC’s action is unconstitutional and should be approached with a request to accept the candidate and whereby that fails, “legal action be instituted mandating the commission to comply with the provisions of the law accordingly,” El-Marzuq concluded.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
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