…as primary kick start March 20
From David Onuoja, Abuja
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has cautioned all the Political Parties in the Country to stick to their schedules of activities, as primary election would start from March 20, and ends on 10th April, 2025..
This was stated today in a press release by the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, in Abuja.
According to the Commission, it came out with this after its regular weekly meeting today, Thursday 6th March, 2025; when it was reviewing on the preparations for the forthcoming off-cycle Governorship election in Anambra State, scheduled for Saturday 8th November 2025.
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“The public may recall that in line with the provision of Section 28(1) of the Electoral Act 2022, the Commission published the Notice of Election on 13th November 2024, over 360 days before the date fixed for the election.
“By the provision of the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the election, the conduct of primaries for nomination of candidates by Political Parties commences in the next two weeks i.e. 20th March 2025 and ends on 10th April 2025.
“So far, 12 out of the 19 registered Political Parties in the country have submitted the detailed schedules of their primaries. As agreed at our last consultative meeting with Political Parties held in January.
“Doing so early will enable the Commission to plan for the effective monitoring of the primaries in line with the provision of Section 84 of the Electoral Act 2022.
“Furthermore, we urge Political Parties to adhere strictly to their proposed schedules. Sudden changes to the dates, venues and modes of the primaries lead to avoidable demobilisation and remobilisation of our monitoring staff, thereby disrupting the Commission’s workflow.
“This also adds to the cost of monitoring primaries and the overall conduct of elections and electoral activities”, it said.
The Commission however, advised the remaining seven political parties that are yet to submit their required information, to do so in earnest to avoid hiccup.
