25 days to convention, APC yet to write INEC

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is yet to formally notify the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of its national convention.

Officials of the commission told Daily Trust that as at Monday, the commission was yet to receive any notice from APC on its national convention scheduled for February 26.

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Mr. Rotimi Oyekanmi, the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to INEC Chairman Prof. Mahmood Yakubu said the commission is yet to receive notification on the party’s convention.

“I can tell you that as of Monday, the commission is yet to receive such notification from the party (APC),” Oyekanmi said.

Section 85 of the Electoral Act 2010 (amended) states the requirements for the registered political parties to notify INEC of their convention.

The section says it “Requires political parties to give INEC 21 days’ notice of their congress convention, congress, conference or meeting convened for the purpose of electing members of its executive committees, other governing bodies or nominating candidates for any of the elective offices specified under the act or approving a merger with any other registered political party.”

Asked on the propriety of APC not notifying INEC despite the provision of the electoral act, Oyekanmi said the regulation was clear and the APC or any other registered parties cannot be said to have broken the law when the timeline is yet to elapse.

Meanwhile, the party’s national reconciliation committee led by a former governor of Nasarawa State, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, has requested one week to enable it to complete its assignment and submit the final report. 

The committee was constituted in the last quarter of 2021 to resolve crises in state chapters of the party to ensure a crisis-free convention.

Submitting the interim report of the committee to the national leadership of the party at the APC national secretariat yesterday in Abuja, Senator Adamu said many petitions were yet to be attended to. 

In an interview with newsmen shortly after submitting the committee’s report, Adamu said the reconciliation committee received 47 petitions from aggrieved party members. 

Receiving the interim report earlier, Chairman of the APC Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, Governor Mai Mala Buni, who was represented by a member of the committee and former Senate president, Ken Nnamani, said the party would look into the recommendations of the committee’s interim report for possible implementation.