Group Faults INEC Over Crisis In Anambra PDP Primaries

Following the controversy surrounding the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) primary election for the upcoming Anambra State
governorship election, a group, the Anambra State Indigenous
Lawyers Forum (ASILF), has held the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) culpable for the resulting crisis.

The President of the group, Joe Nwokedi, who spoke yesterday
during the Morning Show programme of the Arise News television
channel, described the present situation as very pathetic, as there
is a conflict of laws, orders, rulings and interest over the
conduct of the primary election in the state.

According to him, “The constitution mandates INEC to monitor and
be involved in any election for it to be valid, but the question
now is ‘has INEC been monitoring these elections? The law is very
clear; if the election isn’t monitored by INEC, such election
should be declared null and void.

“INEC is supposed to ask questions as well as exercise due
diligence about the group inviting them for the congress, and
inquire if they are the authentic leaders of the political party.
If they happen to engage in that diligent action, this issue of
factional and non-factional leadership in political parties would
have been resolved even before the congress, and it is worthy to
note that INEC attends the congress, and they send their
representatives there. This is to prevent a re-occurrence of court
cases emanating from primary elections.”

Nwokedi explained that INEC was still finding it difficult to
recognise the exact valid faction, “whereas the law states they
must be involved even before the election of these executive
officers.”

He insisted that INEC should be held culpable in the crisis
“because the law is very clear on the roles it ought to play even
before the conduct of the primary elections.

“The guide lines have already provided areas that INEC is
supposed to come into play to determine at the beginning which
fraction is complying with the provisions of the law and which one
isn’t.”

Speaking on the way forward in the forthcoming Anambra State
elections, he said: “What might happen is the same scenario that
played out in Rivers State, because the law is very clear that it
is political parties that sponsor candidates.

“None of the candidates contested the election as an independent
candidate; they were all sponsored by political parties. The worst
case scenario might be that the name of the political parties will
be by the ballot boxes while courts are left to determine the
authentic candidates of the political parties, but the political
party might go ahead to contest the elections because at the end of
the day, a candidate will emerge and it will be very injurious to
any party that might have spent resources.”

Following the controversy surrounding the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) primary election for the upcoming Anambra State
governorship election, a group, the Anambra State Indigenous
Lawyers Forum (ASILF), has held the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) culpable for the resulting crisis.

The President of the group, Joe Nwokedi, who spoke yesterday
during the Morning Show programme of the Arise News television
channel, described the present situation as very pathetic, as there
is a conflict of laws, orders, rulings and interest over the
conduct of the primary election in the state.

According to him, “The constitution mandates INEC to monitor and
be involved in any election for it to be valid, but the question
now is ‘has INEC been monitoring these elections? The law is very
clear; if the election isn’t monitored by INEC, such election
should be declared null and void.

“INEC is supposed to ask questions as well as exercise due
diligence about the group inviting them for the congress, and
inquire if they are the authentic leaders of the political party.
If they happen to engage in that diligent action, this issue of
factional and non-factional leadership in political parties would
have been resolved even before the congress, and it is worthy to
note that INEC attends the congress, and they send their
representatives there. This is to prevent a re-occurrence of court
cases emanating from primary elections.”

Nwokedi explained that INEC was still finding it difficult to
recognise the exact valid faction, “whereas the law states they
must be involved even before the election of these executive
officers.”

He insisted that INEC should be held culpable in the crisis
“because the law is very clear on the roles it ought to play even
before the conduct of the primary elections.

“The guide lines have already provided areas that INEC is
supposed to come into play to determine at the beginning which
fraction is complying with the provisions of the law and which one
isn’t.”

Speaking on the way forward in the forthcoming Anambra State
elections, he said: “What might happen is the same scenario that
played out in Rivers State, because the law is very clear that it
is political parties that sponsor candidates.

“None of the candidates contested the election as an independent
candidate; they were all sponsored by political parties. The worst
case scenario might be that the name of the political parties will
be by the ballot boxes while courts are left to determine the
authentic candidates of the political parties, but the political
party might go ahead to contest the elections because at the end of
the day, a candidate will emerge and it will be very injurious to
any party that might have spent resources.”