Politics
INEC facing 600 court cases over political parties primary elections
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has revealed that it is in court battling about 600 law suits that emanated as a result of primary elections conducted by political parties to choose their flag bearers for different elective positions.
Chairman of the commission, Mahmoud Yakubu stated this Monday in Abuja at a Capacity Building event organised by the Court of Appeal for Election Petition Tribunal members who would be handling election disputes from next year’s general election.
Yakubu noted that the situation grew worse when a political party presented the electoral board with 70 court summons on the same matter in one day.
He claimed that after the deadline set down by law for nominations had passed, the majority of cases seeking a court order compelling INEC to accept their nominations had been filed.
Read also:37,832 new PVCs collected in Lagos – INEC
Yakubu promised that the electoral body would always comply and abide by any lawful court rulings, despite the gravity of the court cases.
However, he issued a warning to high courts not to give in to the temptation of trying to examine the Supreme Court’s final decisions on election-related cases.
He claimed that through experience, INEC has discovered that the majority of politicians and political groups are litigious, dragging out the electoral body on pointless and vexatious issues.
The general elections in 2023, according to Yakubu, would be the first to be held following the repeal of the 2010 Electoral Act and the first since the introduction of the 2022 new Electoral Act, which provides legal support for the use of technology in the country’s election-related activities.
He vowed that the general elections scheduled for 2023 would be free and fair while pleading with the judiciary to act in an entirely unbiased manner alongside INEC.
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