Conflicting Primaries Disruptive, Wasting INEC Resources – Yakubu
Mahmood Yakubu, the INEC Chairman, has once again urged political parties to steer clear of circumstances that could result in numerous candidates emerging and conducting parallel primaries.
On Tuesday in Abuja, during the first regular quarterly consultative meeting with political parties, Yakubu made the call.
As we recently saw during the Edo primaries, frequent changes are not only disruptive but also expensive, according to the INEC chair. To accommodate political parties, the commission is unable to mobilise, demobilise, and remobilize its employees for the purpose of overseeing party primaries.
The chairman of INEC clarified that needless lawsuits have resulted from the current circumstances.
Meeting with the political parties, the commission discussed the outcomes of the previous bye and rerun elections as well as the planning for the off-cycle gubernatorial elections in Edo and Ondo.
Several political parties have conducted parallel primaries to nominate their candidates ahead of the Edo State governorship election.
About four people declared themselves as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidatures before the party finally settled the dispute with a new primary that resulted in Monday Okpebholo.
Asue Ighodalo was declared the winner of the primary by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), but Philip Shaibu, the deputy governor, also declared himself the party's nominee.
