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Despite assurances by the Independent National Electoral Commission, it failed to display the list of presidential candidates for the 2015 general elections on Friday.
But political parties have continued to submit the list of candidates for the governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections to beat deadlines stipulated by INEC.
Although the commission has explained that the list of candidates, except that of the Presidency would be displayed in the constituencies, Saturday PUNCH learnt during a visit to INEC Headquarters that as of 5.30 pm on Friday, the presidential candidates’ list had yet to be displayed.
A source in the legal department of the commission told our correspondent that none of the lists of candidates were published in Abuja.
“Even the list of Presidential candidates would be published in the constituencies and not Abuja. The reason is to allow any person who has any complaints about papers filed by the Presidential candidates to do so,” he stated.
The Director of Voter Education and Publicity in INEC, Mr. Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi and the Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Mr. Kayode Idowu, made the clarifications regarding the publications in the constituencies in separate interviews with our correspondent.
When asked if the lists of candidates have been published, Osaze-Uzzi said, “Well I am aware that it has been published. I am not in Abuja and have not checked the website. It is published in the constituencies. So you need to get to the states. I know that we have published what we could for instance in Anambra State; but I don’t know what has been published.”
Several calls and text messages to the Anambra Resident Electoral Commissioner, Prof Chukwuemeka Onukaogu, were not replied.
Idowu on his part explained that the lists would be published in the constituencies, except that of Presidential candidates.
He said, “The lists are submitted in Abuja, but I think what the law says is that we publish it in the constituencies. So, for the Presidency for instance, the constituency is national and it will most likely be published in INEC office in Abuja. But for the others, including the list of candidates for Senatorial and House of Representatives elections, I suspect they may be published in the state offices of INEC.”
Yesterday (Friday) was the last day of grace for political parties which had yet to submit the names of their candidates for governorship and House of Assembly elections to the INEC, according to the time table released by the commission.
The deadline for the submission of forms for governorship and House of Assembly elections had earlier been shifted from December 25 to December 26, 2014 because of the holiday.
Prospective candidates for the Presidency and National Assembly in the 2015 general elections had submitted their Forms CF001 and CF002 at INEC Headquarters.
