Political parties in the country, under the umbrella of Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), have appealed to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to rejig its electoral timelines and shift the June 3 deadline for the conduct of primary elections by political parties.
The parties asked INEC to shift the deadline by 37 days.
IPAC National Chairman, Engr. Sani Yabagi, made the appeal on Tuesday in Abuja at the INEC’s interactive session with political parties.
However, the Independent National Electoral Commission rejected the appeal for an extension of the deadline for the conduct of primaries by political parties.
The Chairman of the Commission, Mahmood Yakubu, who gave the response during a meeting with the parties, told them not to expect any extension from the commission.
He said any attempt to review the timeline as requested by IPAC will alter the rest of the INEC schedule of activities ahead of the 2023 polls.
“I hereby reiterate the position of the Commission that there will be no review of the timelines. There are so many inter-related activities that are associated with the timelines which must be carried out.
“Any review to extend the timeline for one activity will affect other activities and put unnecessary pressure on political parties and the Commission. This will ultimately result in more complications than what the extension seeks to achieve. Therefore, the Commission will not review the timelines,” Yakubu stated.
Recall that the INEC Chairman, on two different occasions last week, reiterated the commission’s stance of not changing its June 3 deadline for the primaries of the 18 political parties.
INEC had reviewed its schedules for the 2023 general elections in Nigeria in February after President Muhammadu Buhari assented to the 2022 Electoral Act.