2019 Elections: At Least 70 Candidates Contesting For President

No fewer than 79 political parties have submitted their nomination for 2019 presidential polls, while  6,352 candidates have indicated interest to contest for the National Assembly.

The chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu made this known during a press conference to update on the implementation of activities for the 2019 general elections.

According to him, 1,856 nominations came for the 109 Senate seats, and 4,496 nominations for the House of Representatives with 360 seats.

Also asked of update on INEC decision that APC Zamfara could not file in candidates for NASS elections, Yakubu said that the matter was still in three High Courts.

“However, INEC did not receive any submission from APC Zamfara state. I will not say more than that because the matter is still in court.’’

He said that three out of the outlined activities toward the 2019 general elections had been implemented starting with the publication of official notice for the elections.

These, according to him, include submission of list and personal particulars of candidates that emerged from party’s primaries for Presidential and National Assembly elections from Oct. 10 to Oct. 18.

Yakubu urged the general public to use the opportunity of the publication of the forms and particulars of the political parties’ nominated candidates at its offices across the nation, to raise their claims and objections.

He said that the publication was for citizens to ascertain the personal details of the candidates to enable them to take informed decisions on election day.

“Any person with reasonable ground to believe that any information on Form CF001 submitted by a candidate contains incorrect or false claims is at liberty to file an action against such candidate.

“This can be filed at the Federal High Court or the High Court of a state or the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

“The current exercise is limited to candidates for Presidential and National Assembly elections.

“That of personal particulars of those contesting in Governorship and State Assembly elections will be similarly published on Nov. 9, one week after the close of submission of nominations by political parties.’’

He said that three out of the outlined activities toward the 2019 general elections had been implemented starting with the publication of official notice for the elections.

These, according to him, include submission of list and personal particulars of candidates that emerged from party’s primaries for Presidential and National Assembly elections from Oct. 10 to Oct. 18.

Yakubu urged the general public to use the opportunity of the publication of the forms and particulars of the political parties’ nominated candidates at its offices across the nation, to raise their claims and objections.

He said that the publication was for citizens to ascertain the personal details of the candidates to enable them to take informed decisions on election day.

“Any person with reasonable ground to believe that any information on Form CF001 submitted by a candidate contains incorrect or false claims is at liberty to file an action against such candidate.

“This can be filed at the Federal High Court or the High Court of a state or the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

“The current exercise is limited to candidates for Presidential and National Assembly elections.

“That of personal particulars of those contesting in Governorship and State Assembly elections will be similarly published on Nov. 9, one week after the close of submission of nominations by political parties.’’

NAN reports that Yakubu assured Nigerians that preparations for the 2019 General Elections were proceeding in earnest and according to the detailed timetable and schedule of activities released by the commission.

“It is exactly 112 days to the elections. We shall continue to faithfully and consistently implement the timetable and all activities.”