The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has warned that governorship primaries conducted outside Ekiti and Osun states will not be accepted.

Chairman Prof. Mahmood Yakubu gave the warning during the first quarterly meeting with civil society organisations at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.

INEC had raised concern that the parties participating in the governorship elections slated for June 18 and July 16 were yet to submit the list of aspirants.

Yakubu said: “In our meeting with the parties yesterday, we reminded them that primaries for electing candidates must take place in the constituency where election will hold as required by law. We also made it clear to them that in the case of Ekiti and Osun governorship elections, any primary conducted outside the two states will not be monitored by the commission and their outcomes will not be accepted.

“Party primaries for the Ekiti State governorship election are scheduled for January 4 to 29. For the Osun State governorship election, primaries will hold from February 16 to March 12. In the case of Ekiti State, all the 18 parties have served the mandatory notices for the primaries.”

He added: “This year is going to be a very busy year for the commission and civil society organisations. The 2023 general election is just 395 days away. Critical preparations must be concluded this year.”

For instance, the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR), which began last June, has entered the third quarter. As at Monday, 8,260,076 eligible Nigerians began the online pre-registration; completed the registration physically; applied for transfer to new voting locations; requested for replacement of their Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs); and updated their voter information records.”

Credit- Nation