The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that it will shut down the candidate nomination portal on June 17 for Presidential and National Assembly party flag bearers.
National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, said this on Friday in Abuja.
He spoke at the INEC Press Corps one day forum on Ekiti and Osun states governorship elections. The programme had as its theme: ‘Elections Coverage in Nigeria: A Look At The Grey Areas In The Electoral Act’.
He also said that the commission will on July 15 close that of governorship and states assemblies nominations.
The Chairman of the corps, Mr Segun Ojumu, said that the event was part of the corps’ contributions in complementing the efforts of INEC towards deepening the nation’s democratic process and ensuring hitch free governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun states.
The Ekiti and Osun governorship elections come up on 18 June and 16 July respectively this year.
Okoye said any political party that failed to upload the list and personal particulars of its nominated candidates will not have a candidate for that particular position.
Speaking on the regulation of political parties, Okoye said that section 29 of the Electoral Act gave political parties a total of 180 days to submit to the commission the list of the candidates the party proposed to sponsor at the elections, who must have emerged from valid primaries conducted by the party.
He said, “Parties must be diligent in the screening of their candidates and any political party that which presents to the commission the name of a candidate who does not meet the qualification stipulated in section 29 of the Act commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of N10m.
“Any political party that nominates a candidate that is not qualified has constitutionally excluded itself from submitting any name to the Commission and the Commission will not violate the intendment of the Constitution by accepting such nomination.”
