By Dayo Johnson Akure

The Chairman of the PBAT Mandate Elders Forum in Ondo State, Chief Demola Ijabiyi, has said no aspirant in a political party primary election can validly claim to have emerged as a candidate until the party’s National Working Committee, NWC, concludes the nomination process and formally certifies the outcome.

Chief Ijabiyi said that declarations made by election committees at primary election venues are only provisional and remain subject to review, validation and ratification by the NWC in line with the party’s constitution and guidelines.

According to him, election committees conducting primaries are not independent constitutional bodies but agents appointed by the NWC to oversee the exercise and submit their returns for final consideration.

He argued that treating results declared at polling venues as final would render the party’s appeal mechanism and supervisory processes ineffective.

“If the declaration made at the venue is considered final and conclusive, then the purpose of the party’s appeal committee and the requirement for election committees to submit their returns to the National Working Committee would become meaningless,” he said.

Ijabiyi further explained that political parties must retain the authority to correct irregularities, manipulation or violations of their guidelines where such issues arise during the conduct of primary elections.

He noted that denying parties this supervisory power would undermine their constitutional right to regulate their internal affairs and determine the credibility of their nomination processes.

The APC chieftain also stressed that aspirants dissatisfied with the outcome of primaries should utilise the party’s appeal process, warning that such internal mechanisms would lose their relevance if field declarations were regarded as irreversible.

He insisted that every contestant remains an aspirant until the NWC receives the returns from the election committee, considers any appeals and officially releases the final list of successful candidates.

Ijabiyi added that aspirants who have approached the courts to challenge decisions of the NWC cannot legitimately present themselves as duly nominated candidates while the party’s nomination process remains unresolved.

He clarified that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, plays only a monitoring and observation role during party primaries and does not possess the constitutional authority to certify or endorse candidates.

According to him, the Constitution and the Electoral Act vest the exclusive power to nominate and sponsor candidates in political parties, acting through their constitutions and duly constituted organs.

“The declaration made by an election committee in the field is essentially a return made by an agent to its principal. It only attains finality after it has been accepted, certified or otherwise determined by the National Working Committee in the exercise of its supervisory powers,” Ijabiyi stated.