The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has
explained why the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was excluded from the revised
list of candidates for the Anambra governorship election.
On Thursday, INEC released a revised list of candidates for
the Anambra governorship poll, scheduled to hold on November 6, and there is
currently no candidate for the PDP.
The commission had also excluded the PDP from the first list
released on July 16.
Explaining the reason for the decision, Festus Okoye, INEC
national commissioner, in an interview with Channels Television on Friday, said
the name of the governorship candidate uploaded to the commission’s portal is
different from the name affirmed by the court.
Okoye further explained that an appeal court has ruled that
the commission should not publish the name of any PDP candidate until the
determination of the suit.
On July 19, an Anambra high court ordered INEC to recognise
Ugochukwu Uba as the party’s candidate, against Valentine Ozigbo, the preferred
candidate of the party’s national working committee.
Speaking further, the INEC commissioner said the PDP would
be added to the candidates’ list after the determination of the suit at the
court of appeal.
“In relation to the PDP, what happened was that the PDP as a
political party uploaded the name and personal particulars of a particular
candidate to our nomination portal, and that was the candidate whose name the
commission published,” he said.
“Thereafter, there was also another court judgement ordering
and directing the PDP as a political party to submit the name of a different
candidate as the candidate of the party.
“The PDP didn’t submit the name of that particular
individual, and we can’t publish the name, unless the PDP submits the name of
that individual.
“Thereafter, the matter went to the court of appeal and the
court of appeal granted accelerated hearing in relation to the matter involving
the PDP and its candidate, and then also ask the INEC not to publish the name
of any of the candidates pending the final determination of the matter before
the court of appeal.”
‘POLITICIANS SHOPPING FOR FAVOURABLE COURT ORDERS’
Speaking on the multiple court judgements received by the
commission on the Anambra election, Okoye said politicians are shopping for
favourable court judgements.
“What is going on is what in legal parlance, we call ‘forum
shopping’ — people who are looking for a place where they can get a favourable
decision,” he said.
“For a party primary that took place in Anambra, for
instance, some people will go to Bauchi state, some people will go to Jigawa
state, some people will go to Imo state and to other places to go and look for
a place where they can get a favourable decision.
“It is important for
the judiciary to intervene in what is going on. If this spate of multiple and
conflicting court orders is carried forward to the 2023 general election, it is
going to have far-reaching consequences on our electoral process.”
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