By Patience Dombin, Jos
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has given June 3, 2022 as the dateline for the conduct primary elections.
The National Commissioner in charge of information and voter education, Festus Okoye disclosed this on Tuesday in a statement.
According to him party primary are to commence on April 4 and end on June 3, 2022.
He warned the political parties to adhere strictly to the principles of internal democracy, drawing from their constitution guidelines, the Electoral Act and other regulations.
Okoye said candidates for elective positions must emerge from democratic, transparent and valid primaries, in line with the provisions of sections 29 and 84 of the electoral Act, 2022.
He further warned that any political party that fails to comply with the provisions of the Act in the conduct of its primaries, its candidate shall be disqualified.
He said INEC will monitor the primaries of each political party that provides the required legal notice in line with sections 82 (1) and (5) of the electoral act.
“Failure of a political party to notify the Commission of any convention or congress convened for the purpose of nominating candidates for any of the elective offices specified in the act shall render the convention or congress invalid.
“The primaries must be conducted in the various constituencies as provided in section 84 of the electoral act as it is a violation of the law to conduct primaries outside the constituencies for which parties are nominating candidates. Such primaries will not be monitor and its outcome be unacceptable.
“Therefore, political parties are enjoined to avoid acrimonious primaries that could result in unnecessary litigations that may lead to failure to nominate and field candidates for elections in some constituencies”, he said.
