Jerry Gana, Donald Duke missing too
Don’t give us politically exposed lecturers, INEC charges VCs

By Omeiza Ajayi

ABUJA— Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has published the final list of Presidential and National Assembly candidates for next month’s general elections, with the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, missing out in Rivers and Zamfara states.

In the list signed by INEC Secretary, Rose Anthony, the presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, Prof. Jerry Gana, was also missing.

There had been a legal tussle between Dr Donald Duke and Prof. Jerry Gana with regard to who is the right presidential candidate of the SDP.

Consequently, INEC said it could not publish the particulars of either contenders as the party has not forwarded it any name, following a court order.

The Federal High Court had barred the APC from fielding candidates in Rivers and Zamfara states, following the inability of the ruling party to resolve its internal challenges and respect its own rules on the conduct of its primaries.

Politically exposed lecturers

Meanwhile, INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has asked vice chancellors of federal universities not to give the commission politically exposed lecturers.

Yakubu, who spoke at the opening of a meeting with Committee of Vice Chancellors, CVC, in Abuja to intimate them on the commission’s preparations for the general elections, said: “As in previous elections, we have requested from each university a specified number of academic staff as contained in my letter to the vice chancellors.

‘’Staff, who are card carrying members or have participated in partisan politics should not be nominated. Similarly, those who may not be involved in partisan political activities but are known to have obvious political leanings should not be nominated.

‘’The commission will carefully scrutinise the list, which must be submitted confidentially in the manner prescribed by the commission in my letter to the vice chancellors.’’

https://newlive.vanguardngr.com/2019/01/election-saraki-cautions-against-overheating-polity/

According to him, without the involvement of Nigeria’s tertiary institutions, especially the universities, the commission will find it extremely difficult to conduct credible elections.

He said: “At the polling unit level, the critical segment of election duty staff is drawn from products of our universities and polytechnics involved in the mandatory National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, scheme.”

‘’For the various collation and declaration centres, the commission draws the required Collation and Returning Officers from the academic staff of our universities, including the vice chancellors who serve as Returning Officers for governorship elections and Collation Officers for the presidential elections.”

‘’It has been a happy collaboration which has further enhanced the transparency and credibility of the elections in Nigeria as well as public confidence in the process. The commission wishes to sustain and deepen this collaboration.

“It is less than a month to the 2019 general elections. On Saturday, February 16, 2019, elections will hold in 470 constituencies nationwide, made up of the presidential, 190 senatorial and 360 federal constituencies.

‘’Two weeks later on Saturday, March 2, 2019, elections will hold in 1,088 constituencies made up of 29 governorship elections, 991 state constituencies and 68 area councils in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT. In summary, there are 1,553 constituencies for which elections will be held this year.

“The 2019 general elections will involve the highest number of registered voters and a record number of political parties. The final register of voters now stands at 84.004,084 while 91 political parties are contesting in different constituencies nationwide.

‘’A total of 73 candidates are contesting in the presidential election, 1,904 in the senatorial and 4,680 in the federal (House of Representatives) elections, making a total of 6,657 candidates contesting for 470 seats.

‘’The final list of candidates for governorship, state assembly and FCT Area Council elections will be released in two weeks, on Thursday, January 31, 2019, in accordance with the commission’s timetable and schedule of activities.

“Collation of results will take place in 8,809 Registration Areas or Wards, 774 Local Government Areas and 36 States and the FCT. In addition, we require Returning Officers for the elections.

‘’For the 2019 general elections, the commission would require some 10,603 staff to support the various collation and declaration processes. It is for this reason that this meeting is of crucial importance.

‘’We need the support of our universities to source the requisite number of interested academic staff on the understanding that this is essentially a national service.’’