The former Resident Electoral Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Elder Aniedi Ikoiwak, has urged Akwa Ibom people to leave unnecessary political sentiment that can heat the polity and wait for the submission of names of candidates by political parties to INEC and the display of those names and their particulars by the electoral body as scheduled.
Ikowak, a two-term INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, advised on Wednesday, June 15, while on a telephone interview with our correspondent. He said the national electoral body has no constitutional power to reject and cannot disqualify candidates of political parties.
He urged INEC officials in Akwa Ibom State to control their utterances and be neutral, as their assertions can indict the Commission if their stands at the state level are reversed by the national electoral body in Abuja, noting that Nigerians are likely to believe that the Commission was bribed for not aligning with the positions of the state officials.
“INEC cannot reject or disqualify candidates of political parties forwarded to it by political parties, even if INEC knows that a particular candidate is insane. What can be done at such circumstances is for candidates and political parties that contested the same election with the alleged insane person to approach the court and ask for the disqualification of the person.
On the recent outburst by Mr. Mike Igini, Akwa Ibom State INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, that a certain political party in the state cannot field candidates in 2023 elections, the former INEC chief opined that if the said political party informed the electoral body of their primaries dates, times, and venue, then such political party has fulfilled what is required from them by the electoral act.
“I am surprised to hear an official of INEC speak about candidates of political parties when the names have not yet been submitted to INEC by the parties.
17th of June is the deadline for presidential, senatorial and federal constituencies.
The 15th of July is the deadline for governorship and House of Assembly candidates. This is when INEC will have an idea of what is submitted by each of the parties. Even with this position, INEC cannot reject any candidate forwarded to it by the parties, except on a pronouncement of a court of competent jurisdiction,” he said.
“Zamfara and Rivers state candidates of APC were not disqualified by INEC. INEC has no such powers. Courts of competent jurisdictions disqualified them because of issues in their congresses, and those cases were not instituted by INEC,” Elder Ikoiwak said.
