ABUJA – The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday said it would not accept new nominations of candidates from any political parties in spite of rescheduling of the general elections.
Mr Kayode Idowu, Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman disclosed this in an interview with newsmen in Abuja.
It would be recalled that the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) had on Sunday requested that INEC should accommodate its presidential candidate, Mrs Helen Godswill, on the basis of postponement of the elections.
The party had explained that nomination forms of its presidential candidate and National Assembly candidates were delayed following the party’s negotiation with INEC over party’s leadership crisis.
Idowu said that accommodating new candidates for the elections now was impossible, because the rescheduled timetable did not cover closed issues in the former timetable.
“If you look at the amended timetable, it does not go back to closed issues like nomination of candidates.
“The commission has equally printed ballot papers, so what happens to the ballot papers, should they be destroyed?
“The rescheduling was made under the provisions of the law that cater for emergencies,’’ he said.
Idowu also said that the commission had attained more than 73 per cent distribution of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) nationwide.
“As at February 13, we had about 73 per cent distribution which weighed beyond 50 million and it is still ongoing,’’ he said.
He added that the commission was consulting and working with security agencies through the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security, to ensure that peaceful elections were conducted on rescheduled dates.
“The commission has been doing that and it will keep consulting with the security agencies,“ he stated.
Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday said it had distributed 52,233,396 Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) nationwide, representing 75.88 per cent of the 68,833,476 registered voters.
This information is contained in a statement signed by Mr. Kayode Idowu, the Chief Press Secretary to the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in Abuja.
The statistics of distribution of the PVCs released in the statement showed that Zamfara, with 1,495,717 registered voters, had the highest level of PVCs distribution of 1,458,519 or 97.51 per cent performance.
According to the statement, Nasarawa state follows with 96.29 per cent, having distributed 1,196,583 PVCs as against 1,242,667 registered voters in the state.
Third in the statistics was Gombe, where the commission had attained 95.05 per cent distribution, as 1,064,577 eligible voters out of 1,120,023 registered in the state had collected their PVCs.
However, the statistics showed that so far Ogun recorded the least number of distributed PVCs of 747,556, representing 40.86 per cent of 1,829,534 registered voters in the state.
In Lagos State with the highest number of registered voters of 5,905,852, the commission said that it had attained 62.40 per cent as it had distributed 3,685,322 PVCs.
The statistics also showed that the number of PVCs collected in Abia was 1,115,634; Adamawa, 1,328,136; Akwa-Ibom, 1,468,708; Anambra, 1,499,317; Bauchi, 1,745,441 and Bayelsa, 404,119.
The states recorded percentages of 79.91, 85.19, 87.38, 76.37, 84.97 and 66.21, respectively, the statement said.
The statement said that Benue recorded 76.81 PVCs distribution rate, Borno, 68.28 per cent; Cross River, 74.79 per cent; Delta, 75.97 per cent; Ebonyi, 66.50 per cent; Edo, 64.38 per cent; Ekiti, 68.77 per cent.
Others, it said, were Enugu, 74.53 per cent; FCT, 61.42 per cent; Imo, 69.44 per cent and Jigawa, 93.20 per cent.
It added that the distribution percentages were 91.98 in Kaduna state, Kano, 70.08 per cent; Kastina, 92.68 per cent; Kebbi, 89.53 per cent; Kogi, 67.67 per cent; Kwara, 73.87 per cent; Niger, 70.15 per cent; Ondo, 70.25 per cent, and Osun, 71.97 per cent.
The statement also indicated that Oyo State had attained 64.97 per cent of PVCs distribution while Plateau had 70.26 per cent coverage, Rivers, 75.79 per cent; Sokoto State, 85.66 per cent; Taraba, 89.25 per cent, and Yobe, 74.95 per cent.