The All Progressives Congress has postponed its special convention for presidential primary for the 2023 general elections from May 29 to June 6. National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Felix Morka, announced this in a statement hours after the Independent National Electoral Commission extended the deadline for party’s to conduct their primaries.
But Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) and other stakeholders have Slammed INEC’s decision to extend the deadline for Party Primaries By Six days Specifically, PDP spokesperson, Debo Ologungba, said INEC has changed the goalpost in the middle of the game, stressing that certainty of elections is the bedrock of democracy.
He was speaking at the Velodrome of the Moshood Abiola Stadium, Abuja, where the PDP is scheduled to hold its special National Convention on Saturday. “The consequences will be grave for the country. And of course we have to look at that,” he said. “The bedrock of democracy is certainty of elections and the fact that the rules are clear to every participant; and you cannot shift the goalpost in the middle of the game, " he added
Other stakeholders who spoke to the platform under anonymity criticized INEC for the late decision, which they claim was to favour some certain individuals and parties.
“Or else, how do you reconcile an action of a supposedly an umpire, who after the initial refusal, decided to yield after some parties have concluded their arrangement and logistics for the meeting,? “.
A chieftain of another party said, “Although some of us saw it coming, but we didn't know it would be this way that would favour some individuals and parties. It's a shame for an umpire not to be seen to be reliable and dependended upon, “
However, the short statement from APC read, “Following the Independent National Electoral Commission’s extension of deadline for the submission of list of candidates by political parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) hereby postpones its Special Convention for Presidential Primary from Sunday, 29th-Monday, 30th of May, 2020, to Monday, 6th-Wednesday, 8th of June, 2022.”
ALSO READ:INEC Extends Deadline For Party Primaries By Six Days
INEC announced the extension of the deadline for political parties to conduct their primaries by six days on Friday evening. The commission had initially announced a deadline of June 3 from the presidential primaries. The extension of the deadline covers the six-day period between June 4 and 9. The electoral umpire’s National Commissioner and Chairman of Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, announced this in a statement on Friday in Abuja. The decision followed a meeting between leaders of various political parties and the leadership of INEC led by the INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, at the commission’s headquarters in the nation’s capital, Abuja. At the meeting, the politicians under the auspices of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) again appealed to INEC to adjust the timetable for the forthcoming polls. Chairman of IPAC, Sani Yabagi of the Action Democratic Party (ADP), explained that adjusting the timetable of the election became necessary because the current timetable was too tight for the political parties. According to Okoye, the request was for a 37 – 60 days extension of the timeline for primaries and the nomination of candidates. He said INEC was emphatic that such an extension could not be granted because it would disrupt other scheduled activities on the timetable. He explained that the parties then pleaded with the commission to use the six-day period between June 4 and 9 to conclude outstanding primaries and prepare to upload the list of candidates and their affidavits on the INEC Candidates Nomination Portal. “The commission has decided to allow the request of the political parties since the six-day period does not conflict with the next scheduled activity which is the submission of the list of nominated candidates or any of the subsequent timelines which remain sacrosanct,” he said. “However, this request is granted in respect of outstanding primaries only without prejudice to those already concluded by political parties. The commission will not monitor already concluded primaries.”