BREAKING: INEC Rejects APC, PDP, Others’ Request To Adjust 2023 Election Timetable

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has rejected a request by political parties for adjustment of the 2023 election timetable to allow the parties more time to prepare and conduct their primary elections.

The 18 registered political parties came under the aegis of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC).

The chairman of the IPAC, Yabagi Sanni, had made the request for extension during INEC’s meeting with the leadership of political parties at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.

But the INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, rejected the request and maintained his earlier position that the June 3rd deadline for conclusion of party primaries is “firm and fixed”.

He reminded the political parties that the period earmarked for the conduct of primaries by political parties commenced on 4th April 2022 and will end on 3rd June 2022.

Yakubu disclosed that all 18 political parties have forwarded the schedules of their primaries to the Commission “and some have commenced the process of choosing their candidates by conducting Ward and Local Government congresses”.

According to him: “Therefore, the Commission will not review the timelines. Working together, we should ensure fidelity to the timelines in conducting transparent and democratic primaries for the purpose of electing candidates for the 1,491 constituencies for which elections will be held on 25th February and 11th March 2023.”