The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, on Tuesday, expressed the frustration of the electoral body over the rancorous primary elections in various political parties ahead of the September 21, 2024 governorship election in Edo State.
Yakubu, who spoke in Abuja at the first regular quarterly consultative meeting with political parties, said INEC found the infighting within political parties disruptive of its activities, adding that INEC also wastes funds to defend litigation arising from controversial primaries.
The governorship primaries conducted by the three frontline political parties, the All Progressives Congress, the Peoples Democratic Party; and Labour Party, were rancorous.
The APC had to conduct a second primary after the first one threw up three ‘winners’.
For the PDP, there were two parallel primaries; while a similar situation played out in the Labour Party.
Speaking on Tuesday, the INEC chairman said the electoral body found such a situation disruptive and called on political parties to adhere strictly to their proposed dates and modes of primaries.
He said, “I urge political parties to adhere strictly to your proposed dates and modes of primaries. Frequent changes, as we witnessed recently during the Edo primaries, are not only disruptive but costly.
Punch / Omowunmi Adewuyi
