OSUN guber: INEC rejects 5 political parties’ notice of primary elections

By Christiana Ekpa

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has rejected the notice of primary elections for Osun State governorship poll submitted by the Democratic People’s Congress (DPC), Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), Change Advocacy Party (CAP), New Generation Party of Nigeria (NGPN) and United Patriots (UP), on 18th February 2022.

A statement issued yesterday by the chairman of one of the affected political parties, Olusegun Peters, National Chairman of Democratic People’s Congress (DPC), said the parties submitted their 21 days notice of primary elections to the commission in accordance with Section 85 of the Electoral Act 2010, as amended.

It said “In flagrant display of impunity, rascality and recklessness, the commission refused to accept the parties’ letters saying it has appealed the judgment of the Court of Appeal that nullified the purported, illegal and ill-conceived deregistration of 74 political parties on 6th February 2020, when it also failed to obtain a stay of execution on the appellate court judgment.

“The parties will challenge this arbitrary, spurious and outrageous action of the commission in court  as the temple of justice for all aggrieved people. Nigeria is not a Banana Republic and should not condescend to it by misguided actions of INEC.

“The affected political parties insist on participating in the Osun governorship election and warn INEC against suffocating and overheating the nation’s emerging democracy by its flagrant disobedience to court judgments. As stakeholders in the political process, the parties will resist the rule of might over the rule of law to save our hard earned democracy from being truncated by a supposed electoral umpire.

“The people’s freedom of association including freedom to form and join political parties of their choice is sacrosanct as clearly enshrined in the 1999 constitution as amended.”

To this end, it warned that the era of arbitrary rule and selective obedience to court orders and judgments are over, adding that as patriotic Nigerians, all hands must be on deck to collectively build a strong, virile, united, stable, equitable and progressive democratic society.