INEC Must Reverse Wrongly-Published ADC Candidates And Probe Officials Who Monitored Fake Primaries -Party Chieftain Owokoniran
A chieftain in ADC, Hon. Rahman Owokoniran, has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately reverse the publication of candidates’ names for some local government areas in Lagos and investigate the conduct of its officials who monitored illegal party primaries.
Owokoniran said the list published by INEC did not align with that of the appeal committee of the party.
According to Owokoniran, the candidate lists published for Kosofe, Eti Osa, Badagry, Apapa, and Ojo did not reflect the outcome of the duly-conducted primary elections.
He disclosed that preliminary reports indicated that some INEC officials monitored the primaries at venues different from those officially approved and communicated by the National Working Committee of the ADC, thereby creating avoidable confusion regarding the authentic results.
Owokoniran further stated that following complaints by aggrieved aspirants, the party initiated a review process during which the affected contestants were invited and the evidence presented was examined.
According to him, the review identified the rightful winners, and the outcome was transmitted to the National Working Committee for appropriate action.
He maintained that the authentic results should be the ones officially submitted to INEC and reflected in its records.
Owokoniran pointed out: “INEC cannot, under the Constitution or the Electoral Act, choose candidates for political parties. Its constitutional responsibility is to recognise the names lawfully submitted by the political party after its validly conducted primaries.
“We therefore call on INEC to immediately reconcile the reports of its field officers with the lawful submissions made by the party.
“INEC should have been patient enough to wait for the report of the appeal committee that was set up by the party to review the process of the primaries.”
The ADC chieftain warned that failure to address the issue promptly would undermine public confidence in the electoral process.
He added: “The integrity of our democracy depends on respecting the will of party members as expressed through transparent primary elections.
“Every lawful vote must count, every legitimate winner must be recognised, and every institution must discharge its constitutional responsibilities without fear or favour.”
