… Commission yet you recognize any PDP guber candidate in Kano
From Oloyede Emmanuel Kano
Contrary to reports that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), may have extended the date for the ongoing registration and collection of Permanent Voters Card (PVC)by eligible voters, the commission has maintained that the June 31 extended date remains the deadline for the exercise
There had been speculations that the deadline for the ongoing registration of voters has been been extended to August 31, 2022, the deadline remains June 30, 2022.
There has however been the clamour for extension of the deadline due to the recent upsurge in the number of potential registrants and the attendant logistics hitches, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, last week, said extension might be considered.
Chief Press Secretary to the INEC chair Rotimi Oyekanmi, while debunking the speculations said the commission has not approved any further extension date for the exercise, noting that the June 30 date remains the date,
“No. It is not true. The deadline for the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) is still 30th June. The online pre-registration service closed since 30th May.
“What the Commission has done to respond to the surge in numbers of those who want to register, is to deploy more INEC Voter Enrollment Devices (IVEDs) to areas where the pressure is highest.
“These areas are all the states in the South-East region, Kano, Lagos and the FCT.”
Meanwhile the Kano Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Prof. Riskuwa Arabu Shehu,has stated that the INEC is yet to recognize any governorship candidate in Kano..
It will also be recalled that the PDP in Kano held parallel governorship primaries, where both the Wada Sagagi led executives, which is however recognized by the party headquarters and another group l led by Aminu Wali, elected factional governorship candidates
Prof. Riskuwa Arabu Shehu who stated this on Monday, added however that the commission is yet to be inform by the political parties of their flag bearers.
He said that ,”The recognition of a candidate for any election is the responsibility of the party and after the conduct of primaries, the party is then expected to forward to the commission the party’s candidates and their running mates,’’
The Kano REC further disclosed that the only responsibility of INEC in party primaries is to serve as observer during the exercise which the commission did in the case of the Kano PDP governorship race.
According to him “The commission was at the governorship primary of Muhammad Abacha as observer but was not present at the Sadiq Wali primary.’’
Prof. Shehu therefore stated that the political parties have a window of submitting their presidential and governorship candidates running mates on or before June 17th 2022.
He also disclosed that the “NEC does not accept candidates nomination without running mates
