Victor EzejaAhead of Nigeria’s 2023 general elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has released the final list of presidential candidates and their running mates.
The document which was released on Tuesday, September 20, also contains lists of Senatorial and House of Representatives candidates of various political parties across the 36 states of the Federation Federal Capital Territory for the election.
The INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye in a statement on today said the electoral body approved the final list of candidates for national elections (Presidential, and National Assembly) during its regular weekly meeting held today (Tuesday, September 20).
According to Okoye, the approval and publication of the list is in line with section 32(1) of the Electoral Act 2022 and item 8 of the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2023 General Election earlier issued by the commission.
“The publication of the full names and addresses of all nominated candidates follows the political parties’ conduct of primaries and completion of the nomination exercise,” Okoye stated.
The commission had after the primaries of various political parties, displayed personal particulars of all nominated candidates in their constituencies nationwide.
Okoye explained that in line with provisions of the Electoral Act 2022, validly nominated candidates were subsequently given a period of opportunity to voluntarily withdraw if they wished to through the laid down procedure, and political parties also did substitution.
“The list published today contains the names of candidates validly nominated for national elections at the close of party primaries and the period earmarked for withdrawal and substitution of candidates,” Okoye explained.
He added that the final list of candidates for State elections (Governorship and State Constituencies) will be published on 4th October 2022 as already indicated on the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2023 General Election.
“We note the fact that not all the political parties conducted primaries in all the constituencies, submitted the particulars of candidates that emerged from valid primaries or substituted their candidates after fresh primaries within 14 days as provided in section 33 of the Electoral Act. This has led to numerous litigations, some of which are ongoing.
“Where the Commission was served with Court orders by aggrieved aspirants or candidates before the publication of this list, these have been indicated under the remark column.
Okoye disclosed that all the 18 political parties have fielded candidates and their running mates for the Presidential election.
The list cited by Prime Business Africa shows Bola Tinubu is the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and his running mate is former Governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima.
For the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar is the presidential candidate while Governor of Delta, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa is the running mate.
Former governor of Anambra State, Mr Peter Obi is the Labour Party presidential candidate, while Baba-Ahmed Datti Yusuf remains his running mate.
Also, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso remains the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), and his running mate is Isaac Idahosa.
The commission also published list of national assembly candidates for each state across political parties which shows that 1,101 candidates are vying for the 109 Senatorial seats, while 3,122 candidates are for 360 House of Representatives seats, making a total of 4,223 candidates contesting for 469 legislative positions.
Here are lists for presidential candidates.
The electoral body appealed to all political parties to any observation on the list of candidates to the Commission.
“We appeal to all political parties to channel any observations on the list of candidates to the Commission and such must be signed by the National Chairman and Secretary of the political party and supported with an affidavit as provided in section 32(2) of the Electoral Act 2022.”
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
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