By Our Correspondent
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has published the list of governorship and house of assembly candidates for the 2023 elections.
The commission, in a statement, said the list contains the names of candidates validly nominated for state elections at the close of party primaries and the period earmarked for withdrawal and substitution of candidates.
“In summary, the 18 political parties have fielded 837 candidates and their running mates for the 28 Governorship elections that fall due in 2023. For State Assembly elections, 10,231 candidates are vying for 993 State Assembly seats,” the statement reads.
Taking a look at the list, the names of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship and deputy governorship candidates for Ogun state were excluded.
There is also no governorship candidate for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Akwa Ibom state on the list.
In Ogun, two factions of the PDP had conducted parallel primaries that produced Ladi Adebutu and Segun Sowunmi as governorship candidates of the party.
The primary that produced Sowunmi, which was held at the secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Abeokuta, was said to have been monitored by INEC officials and members of the Inter-Party Advisory Council of Nigeria (IPAC).
However, the primary that produced Adebutu, a former member of the house of representatives, was held at the Olusegun Obasanjo presidential library in the state capital.
Jimi Lawal, a governorship aspirant, had subsequently approached the court to contest the delegate list that Sikirulahi Ogundele’s faction of the party used during the primary which produced Adebutu.
Other candidates had also approached the court to challenge the authenticity of the Ogundele-led state executive of the party.
The federal high court in Abeokuta then nullified the parallel governorship primaries and ruled that the primaries didn’t follow the principles of the electoral act.
The court also ordered that a rerun should be conducted within 14 days.
On the other hand, in Akwa Ibom, Akan Udofia, who recently defected to the APC from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was announced as the party’s governorship candidate on May 27.
But INEC had said that its officials didn’t monitor that primary.
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