The Independent Electoral Commission in Nigeria, INEC, has stated that the ruling party in the country, APC, has no senatorial candidates in Yobe North and Akwa Ibom North West constituencies.
The President of the National Assembly, Ahmed Lawan, who represents Yobe North, is fighting to get a ticket to run under the APC party after he lost in the election of the presidential candidate.
The former governor of Akwa Ibom state, Godswill Akpabio, who contested in the election of the candidate for the presidency of Nigeria, is facing a challenge from the APC to be able to represent the people of Akwa Ibom North West constituency in the National Assembly. Elder.
However, the Electoral Commission Commissioner, Festus Okoye said INEC does not have any APC candidate to represent Yobe North and Akwa Ibom North West constituencies.
In an interview with Channels TV, Okoye added that “in the two constituencies, the names of two persons were presented and the commission decided that the persons were not the legitimate winners of the nominations conducted by the APC and We have not published their names”.
He said that the APC had added the names of Lawan and Akpabio to the list of candidates on the INEC website but the Electoral Commission decided that the two men were not nominated in the party’s nomination.
According to Okoye, the failure to publish the names of the two men and their details under the constituencies means that APC does not have the names of the candidates in the two constituencies.
Even last week, INEC denied changing the date of some documents to be able to enter the names of Lawan and Akpabio as senatorial candidates in the 2023 general election.
INEC has stated that it did not publish the forms of the two men – a move that led to the filing of a case which is still before the judge.
The Electoral Commission said that this is what made it abandon any strategy of submitting fake documents confirming the candidacy of the two men at the same time that the matter is before the court.
