‘NWC Can Reject Screening Results,’ Says Oshiomhole
As the All Progressives Congress (APC) is set to screen aspirants vying for its governorship ticket, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has confirmed that the APC in Edo will select its candidate for the September governorship election through direct primary.
The National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye said this in a statement after a virtual meeting on Tuesday in Abuja.
He said out of 18 registered political parties, 15 have notified their intention to conduct primaries to nominate candidates for the Edo Governorship election.
Okoye said that the notice was in accordance with Sections 85 and 87 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended).
“By the Timetable and Schedule of Activities issued by the Commission on Feb. 6, party primaries for the Edo Governorship election will take place between June 2 and June 27,” he said.
Okoye said that the All Progressives Congress (APC) would hold direct primary on June 22, while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would hold indirect primary between June 19 and June 20.
According to Okoye, the African Action Congress (AAC), African Democratic Party (ADP), Allied Peoples Movement (APM), New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and Social Democratic Party (SDP) will also conduct indirect primaries on June 25.
He also said that the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Labour Party (LP) and Young Progressives Party (YPP) had notified the commission that they would conduct indirect primaries on June 27.
Okoye appealed to the various political parties to conduct their primaries in full compliance with the provisions of the laws and guidelines.
These, according to him, include the 1999 Constitution and Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Political Party Primaries (2018) and the INEC Policy for Conducting Elections in the context of COVID-19 Pandemic.
“Political parties must shun all acts capable of breaching the peace and unsettling the peace and order of the State and jeopardising the health and safety of party members, election officials and observers,” he said.
Meanwhile, Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, Dr. Pius Odubu, Chris Ogiemwonyi, Osaro Obazee and Matthew Iduoriyenkemwen will appear before a panel raised to screen All Progressives Congress (APC) aspirants for Edo State governorship party ticket.
The seven-man committee was inaugurated at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja on Tuesday to screen the aspirants Wednesday and Thursday.
A six-member Appeal Committee to hear the petitions of aggrieved aspirants after the screening was also inaugurated.
The party said its National Working Committee (NWC) remains the final clearing house for all eligible aspirants seeking the ticket ahead of the primary slated for June 22.
National Chairman Adams Oshiomhole, who inaugurated the committees, said the party invited the “wise men and women” to assist it in screening aspirants to avoid the Bayelsa State experience.
The party chair said: “After intensive consultations, we decided to have people who in our own judgment are sound and when they go through this process, their recommendations will be very helpful. Under our rules, we are expected to set up a screening committee before every election.
“The responsibility of the screening committee is to interact with all those who have aspirations to contest, strictly speaking, not yet aspirants. You become an aspirant after the screening committee has passed you.
“If anybody is dissatisfied with the screening committee’s recommendation, he/she will file an appeal and it will be forwarded to the Appeals Committee and after that, they will make a final recommendation to the National Working Committee (NWC) that has the final decision as to who is eligible or who is not eligible.
“In the past, we had always performed this role but maybe we did not give it the appropriate weight. May be we had assumed that people who want to aspire to certain offices, particularly high elective offices of executive governor, won’t submit documents containing information that may possibly lead to disqualification.
“In the past, this was more of a formality but with what happened to us in Bayelsa earlier this year, we decided to approach the issue of screening much more seriously than ever before.”
Oshiomhole, however said should there be discrepancies at the end of the screening and appeal exercises, the “NWC can reject the screening result” stressing that, “the screening committee is High Court, Appeal Committee is Appeal Court and the NWC is the Supreme Court”.
