2023: June3 deadline for submission of candidates to INEC remain sacrosanct – Igini

By Ihechukwu Sunday
Contrary to reports in the media that the Independent national Electoral Commission (INEC) has refused the request by political parties for changes in electoral timetable and schedule of activities, the Akwa State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mike Igini has cleared the air saying that the statement was not wholly true and correct.
He insisted that within the broad outline of the timetable issued, political parties have been making changes and sending letters almost every day, shifting dates, venues and time. “As disruptive as these changes are to our internal workings, they are free to do so and these shifts have all been accommodated by the Commission to the extent that our personnel now work, and in the field during weekends,” he stated
Insisting that the submission deadline remains June 3, Igini said the only request the Commission has difficulty in accommodating was in respect of fundamental shift of dates of submission of names of candidates that emerged from primaries and conventions as contained in the fixed and firm timetable and schedule of activities.
He noted that the dates were fixed and firmed as published and repeated severally in all interactions with political parties because they were arrived at based on the provisions of sections 76, 116,132, 178 of the constitution, as well as the provision of section 28 of the 2022 Act.
He wondered why political parties decided to leave out the whole of April that they should have commenced the conduct of primaries, only to choose almost the last few days to the end of the month of May when they know that the submission deadline is June 3, 2022.
“Haven’t they been hearing and reading the Chairman’s consistent refrain that constitutional and statutory timelines are “fixed and firmed” at all stakeholders meetings?” he queried.
He reiterated that there was no problem with changes of venues and time within the framework of already issued constitutional timetable by the commission, as political parties have been doing that, but insisted a fundamental shift was what the Commission has advised against to allow for certainty of timeline for the 2023 elections, “otherwise we will continue to shift and shift the timetable.”