INEC promised Sept 20 for the final list of presidential, and governorship candidates

By Our Correspondent

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has disclosed that the final list of candidates for Presidential, Senate, House of Representatives, and Governorship candidates alongside State Houses of Assembly will be published on September 20th and October 4th respectively ahead of the 2023 poll.

INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, said this on Thursday in Abuja at the ”Expert Meeting on Conducting Nigeria’s 2023 General Elections in Volatile Security Environment”.

The event was organized by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) in conjunction with INEC.

Yakubu said that the publication of the final list was in line with Section 32(1) of the Electoral Act, 2022, and the Timetable and Schedule of Activities released by the commission.

”Campaign in public by political parties will officially commence on Sept. 28 as provided for by Section 94(1) of the Electoral Act, 2022.

”As campaigns commence, we appeal to all political parties and candidates to focus on issue-based campaigns.

“This is the best way to complement our efforts to ensure transparent elections in which only the votes cast by citizens determine the winner,” he said.

Yakubu said activities for the 2023 General Elections would enter critical stages this month from the next 19 days onward.

“The commission welcomes this initiative and as Co-Chairman of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), there is no doubt that the security agencies also welcome ideas and citizens’ support towards peaceful elections,” he said.

The Director, CDD, Ms. Idayat Hassan, said that the meeting was being held against the background of security challenges plaguing the country.

Hassan said the idea was to start talking about how to de-escalate the tension and how to secure the environment, such that INEC would be able to assess all parts of the country to conduct a peaceful and legitimate election come 2023.

” I think one for this election, the security of election materials, the security of personnel, the security of voters are in context and there is the problem in INEC assessing all areas.