The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has insisted that it would not recognise the nomination of the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan and Godswill Akpabio as senatorial candidates for Yobe North and Akwa Ibom north-west, respectively.
Lawan and Akpabio were nominated by the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Speaking on Sunday, INEC’s National Commissioner, Festus Okoye, said the electoral body does not recognise any APC candidate for the two senatorial zones.
Lawan, who represents Yobe North is battling to get the party’s ticket after losing the APC presidential primary.
Akpabio is also battling to get the ruling party’s ticket to run for the Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial seat. Akpabio also vied for the APC presidential ticket.
“In these two constituencies, two names were forwarded and the commission made a determination that the names were not persons who emerged from a validly conducted party primaries and we did not publish their names. That is where we are,” Okoye said during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.
“Their (Lawan and Akpabio) names were uploaded by the APC to our candidates’ nomination portal but the Commission made a determination that they were not the candidates that emerged from valid party primaries,” he added.
“The commission did not publish their names and their particulars in their constituencies. So, the implication is that as of today, the APC does not have candidates in those two constituencies.”
INEC had earlier denied doctoring and backdating documents to accommodate the nominations of Lawan and Akpabio as senatorial candidates for the 2023 general elections.
