Anambra guber: Parties have btw March 20 and April 10 to hold primaries, says INEC

• As only 12 out of 19 parties submit detail schedules so far

By Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja

Ahead of the forthcoming Anambra State governorship election scheduled for saturday November 8 this year, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has fixed between March 20th and 10th April 2025 for political parties participating in the election to conduct their primaries.

This was confirmed in a statement Thursday by the INEC after its weekly regular meeting in Abuja.

The statement issued by the INEC National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr Sam Olumekun disclosed that only 12 out of the 19 registered Political Parties in the country have submitted the detailed schedules of their primaries ahead of the election.

The commission reminded the parties that are yet to submit the required information to do so in earnest.

The statement by Olumekun reads, “The commission (INEC) held its regular weekly meeting today (yesterday) Thursday 6th March 2025. Among other issues, the Commission reviewed its preparations for the forthcoming off-cycle Governorship election in Anambra State, scheduled for Saturday 8th November 2025.

“The public may recall that in line with the provision of Section 28(1) of the Electoral Act 2022, the Commission published the Notice of Election on 13th November 2024, over 360 days before the date fixed for the election.

“By the provision of the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the election, the conduct of primaries for nomination of candidates by Political Parties commences in the next two weeks i.e. 20th March 2025 and ends on 10th April 2025.

“So far, 12 out of the 19 registered Political Parties in the country have submitted the detailed schedules of their primaries.

“As agreed at our last consultative meeting with Political Parties held in January, doing so early will enable the Commission to plan for the effective monitoring of the primaries in line with the provision of Section 84 of the Electoral Act 2022.

“The seven parties that are yet to submit the required information are hereby reminded to do so in earnest.

“Furthermore, we urge Political Parties to adhere strictly to their proposed schedules.

“Sudden changes to the dates, venues and modes of the primaries lead to avoidable demobilisation and remobilisation of our monitoring staff, thereby disrupting the Commission’s workflow.

“This also adds to the cost of monitoring primaries and the overall conduct of elections and electoral activities”, it said.