Zamfara: APC says INEC can’t ban its candidates
By Emmanuel Mogbede
The All Progressives Congress (APC) says it has right to submit names of its candidates for elective positions in Zamfara for the 2019 general elections. And it has done so.
Mr Lanre Onilu, the APC National Publicity Secretary, said this on Wednesday in Abuja.
He said the party’s position was without prejudice to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) stance.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that INEC had on Oct. 10, said that APC was not eligible to field candidates for Governorship, National Assembly and State Assembly positions in Zamfara in the 2019 elections.
The commission in a letter signed by Okechukwu Ndeche, its acting Secretary, said the APC was not qualified to field candidates because it failed to conduct primaries in Zamfara within the stipulated time-frame.
Mr Adams Oshiomhole, the APC National Chairman, while reacting to the development insisted that the party held primaries in Zamfara contrary to INEC`S stance.
He, however, said that primary election was not the only mode prescribed for producing party candidates for elections in the 2010 amended Electoral Act.
“INEC cannot disqualify candidates we all know that. We have said clearly that whatever claim INEC is making is not correct and it is not a true representation of what happened, “ Onilu said.
“We submitted list of candidates for legislative elections in Zamfara state, if INEC did not take it, it is a different thing. We have a right to submit and INEC has the legal responsibility to receive.
“INEC cannot disqualify candidates we all know that. We have said clearly that whatever claim INEC is making is not correct and it is not a true representation of what happened, “ Onilu said.
He added that the APC would, however, continue to take progressive steps to ensure that INEC did what was right ahead of the 2019 general elections.
Speaking on the Supreme Court ruling on the Rivers APC governorship primaries, Onilu noted that the ruling had been subjected to different interpretations, adding that the party had yet to take a position on it.
