by Dolapo Adelana

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof Mahmud Yakubu, has called on political parties to stop fielding persons with questionable characters for elections.

Yakubu made the comment in Abuja on Tuesday while speaking at the stakeholders’ validation conference on INEC’s Strategic Plan.

He decried the situation where parties nominate ex-convicts and people with forged certificates as candidates for election, noting that the electoral body lacked the powers to prevent such candidates emerging from primaries to contest elections.

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“If a candidate that emerges from party primaries is changed, how can INEC intervene? We can only appeal to the political parties to respect their rules. The laws say that INEC has no power to reject names submitted by the headquarters of a party.“In some cases, some of the candidates shouldn’t have been nominated. Some parties recommend ex-convicts for election, certificate forgery, only for the court to nullify that election and for INEC to conduct

“In some cases, some of the candidates shouldn’t have been nominated. Some parties recommend ex-convicts for election, certificate forgery, only for the court to nullify that election and for INEC to conduct fresh election. The parties should do basic due diligence.”

The INEC chairman said the commission under his leadership would not take directive from any quarters in the performance of its electoral responsibilities.He debunked the notion that the commission towed the line of the Attorney General of the Federal and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, on the impasse that followed the death of Alhaji Abubakar Audu in the last governorship election in Kogi.

He debunked the notion that the commission towed the line of the Attorney General of the Federal and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, on the impasse that followed the death of Alhaji Abubakar Audu in the last governorship election in Kogi.He said, “I have explained this over and over but I am going to say it again. About what happened in Kogi, it came with its own complications that challenged our electoral jurisprudence.

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He said, “I have explained this over and over but I am going to say it again. About what happened in Kogi, it came with its own complications that challenged our electoral jurisprudence.“There was the impression that our response came late and it came after the comment by the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, suggesting that there was an indication or inference that we took a cue from what he said. That wasn’t what transpired.

“There was the impression that our response came late and it came after the comment by the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, suggesting that there was an indication or inference that we took a cue from what he said. That wasn’t what transpired.“The election was declared inconclusive and the APC candidate died on Sunday, the election was conducted on Saturday. We had a meeting on Monday, we looked at the laws, we sought

“The election was declared inconclusive and the APC candidate died on Sunday, the election was conducted on Saturday. We had a meeting on Monday, we looked at the laws, we sought for the advice of our legal service department before we issued our statement. But people thought we took a cue from the AGF. No, we didn’t.”