The Independent National Electoral Commission says it has received over 1.6 million inquiries on the details of party primaries.
This is just as the commission revealed that the New Nigeria People’s Party and the African Action Congress had yet to upload any nomination for state elections on the commission’s portal two days to the deadline.
According to INEC’s guidelines, any party that fails to upload the nomination of its candidates cannot take part in the elections.
In a statement on Wednesday by its National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education, Festus Okoye, INEC said all parties must note that the portal would automatically shut down at 6:00pm on Friday.
The commission added that 6,995 nominations had been uploaded by 16 of the 18 political parties.
The statement titled, ‘Update on the Nomination of Governorship and State Assembly Candidates for the 2023 General Election and Issuance of Certified True Copies of Documents’, added that INEC had received over 1.6 million inquiries on the credentials of candidates.
It read in part, “So far, the commission has processed 6,995 nomination forms uploaded by 16 out of 18 political parties for the constituencies where they intend to sponsor candidates. However, two political parties, the AAC and NNPP have yet to upload a single nomination to the portal.
“The commission hereby reminds all political parties that they have three days left to upload their list of candidates to the ICNP. The deadline is Friday July 15, 2022. The portal will automatically shut down at 6pm on that date.
“Meanwhile, the commission has continuously responded to requests for the issuance of Certified True Copies of documents mainly arising from the conduct of party congresses, primaries and nomination of candidates. The number of requests processed has now risen to 1,662,987 pages of documents. Sadly, in spite of the commission’s effort, 147 out of 476 requests processed as at today involving 5,646 pages are yet to be collected by applicants.”
The commission appealed to prospective litigants to come forward and collect the certified copies of the documents.
