The Independent National Electoral Commission has lamented the extension of the timetable and schedule of activities by the All Progressives Congress (APC)
Responding to calls for the commission to extend the June 3 deadline, the latest coming from the APC after the Inter-Party Advisory Council made a similar call about a year ago, INEC said there was no cogent or verifiable reason for it to shift the deadline.
Okoye said it would be an ambush for the commission to shift the deadline.
He said, “The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (Prof Mahmood Yakubu) has been clear and consistent that the timetable and schedule of activities for the conduct of primaries are firm and fixed.
“The commission is not in any way contemplating any form of amendment or alteration. It will amount to an electoral ambush to alter the timetable when some political parties have concluded their congresses and primaries and their candidates have emerged.
“All the political parties are complying with the timelines of the commission and there is no cogent or verifiable reason to tamper with the timetable. IPAC is not a registered political party. IPAC members are proceeding with their congresses and primaries, and have indicated concretely their readiness and resolve to complete all activities relating to their congresses, conventions and primaries on schedule.”
IPAC National Chairman, Yabagi Sani, said that it was still on its request to INEC to extend the deadline for party primaries.
“We are on it, certainly. We haven’t reached a conclusion yet,” he said.
Asked if IPAC was hopeful that the commission would accede to its request, Sani, who is also the National Chairman of the Action Democratic Party, said, “Let’s wait and see how it will play out, but we believe that we will have some good news.”
Speaking further on the call for an extension of the deadline for the primaries, Okoye noted that the conduct of party congresses and primaries was only a small subset of the activities being undertaken by the commission.
He added, “The commission was methodical, rational and flexible in drawing up the timetable and schedule of activities. The days that some stakeholders believe are free are not free days.
“The framers of the constitution and the law gave the commission the discretion to fashion the timetable and schedule of activities to accommodate other activities. The commission is conscious of its constitutional and legal responsibilities and will not create room for unnecessary pressure, panic and mistakes.”
