… It’s pure fraud, symptom of rot in society – SAN

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has distanced itself from any new final list of candidates for the 2023 general elections, including the purported final list of presidential and National Assembly candidates released on Sunday.

The election management body said there could not be another list of candidates with just 46 days to the general election.

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The clarification was contained in a disclaimer issued on Monday by INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr. Festus Okoye.

This is contrary to the claim by the Chairman of the Enugu State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Ugochukwu Agballah, that the retention of the name and particulars of Chief Robert Ngwu instead of Barr. George Ogara on INEC’s website as the deputy governorship candidate of the party in Enugu was an error, which would be corrected by INEC in a final list of governorship and House of Assembly candidates.

Fielding questions on Television Continental (TVC) on Monday, Ugochukwu Agballah, who equally admitted that Robert Ngwu is also the incumbent Secretary of the Enugu State chapter of the APC, claimed that INEC had just published an updated and final copy of national election candidates, and would soon do the same for state elections.

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However, in a disclaimer on Monday, INEC said the final list of candidates for the 2023 general elections was already published 150 days before the dates set for the 2023 general election in compliance with the provision of Section 32 (1) of the Electoral Act 2022.

“The attention of the commission has been drawn to reports widely circulated by a section of the media today, Monday January 9, that the final list of candidates was released on our website on Sunday January 8.

“The commission wishes to state categorically that no new publication of the final list of candidates was released as reported. The public should therefore discountenance the story”, INEC clarified.

It is recalled that whereas Agballa and the governorship candidate of the party, Chief Uche Nnaji, parade George Ogara from Enugu North senatorial district as the deputy governorship candidate, with his portrait adorning all the campaign posters, billboards, and radio jingles, the name of Robert Ngwu remains on INEC records and website as the real deputy governorship candidate.

Analysts believe that the Enugu APC must have used Ngwu, who instructively is from Enugu East zone as the governorship candidate, Uche Nnaji, as a placeholder, but was unable to beat the deadline for the replacement of candidates.

Consequently, George Ogara’s name and pictures are used as the deputy governorship candidate to make the ticket appealing to the electorate, particularly the people of Enugu North senatorial zone.

Meanwhile, a professor of Law and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, who served as Attorney-General of Imo State, Sir Francis Dike, has described the development as pure fraud, which could only happen in a rotten society.

“This is pure fraud, and a clear case of impersonation and defamation and can only happen in a disorderly and rotten society such as ours”, he said.

JOURNALIST101