Emmanuel Ulayi
22 February 2007
Abuja — THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared yesterday that candidates for this year's elections who could not scale through the verification conducted by it stood disqualified, and their parties have lost the right to contest.
This category of politicians comprises mainly those indicted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) such as Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Governors Modu Sheriff (Borno), Bola Tinubu (Lagos) and Orji Kalu (Abia), among others.
He spoke amid indications of a sharp division within the top hierarchy of the commission over the enforcement of the EFCC list.
Prof. Iwu speaking at the commencement of verification of the data of the substituted candidates noted that the 1999 Constitution and the 2006 Electoral Act spelt out the conditions for candidates' eligibility.
He listed such constitutional provisions as age, qualification, citizenship and membership of a political party. Iwu, however, noted that there was a misconception about the provisions of the constitution and the Electoral Act, with regard to the disqualification of candidates.
"If you are not qualified because of a constitutional provision, nobody can substitute you and your party will definitely lose that chance. In the past, you could effect substitution on the eve of elections, but the new Act does not allow such practice," he said. The 2006 Electoral Act provides a minimum of 60 days for the substitution of candidates list.
Iwu, however, commended the party candidates for their courage and efforts to contest various elective positions.
INEC hierarchy divided over EFCC list
Meanwhile, there were indications yesterday of a division within the leadership of INEC over the enforcement of the recently released EFCC list of corrupt politicians.
It was gathered that the Chairman, Professor Iwu and 11 commissioners, had launched into a closed door meeting from about 11pm Tuesday, to consider the burning issue and take a definite position on the fate of those indicted in the EFCC list.
The meeting, which coincided with the deadline for the substitution of party candidates went into a long session and at a point became rowdy and things nearly got out of hand.
Sources said while seven commissioners supported the move to use the EFCC list to prevent the indicted candidates, four thought the courts should decide their fate.
One of the commissioners who kicked against the move to use the EFCC list as condition to ban the candidates cited Tuesday Appeal Court ruling affirming that the VP should remain No. 2 citizens and that the matter should be left for the court to adjudicate.
The commissioner reportedly said the EFCC should be bold enough to take the indicted candidates to court, stressing that it was not the duty of INEC to take candidates to court over issues of corruption and nobody should be denied his right to vote or be voted for unless the court ruled against the person.
However, the seven commissioners who supported the EFCC list maintained that candidates whose names appeared on the list were unfit to seek any elective office in the country.
Vanguard also learnt the meeting could not reach a conclusive position on the issue and rose at about 2 a.m yesterday.
Meanwhile, INEC, yesterday, commenced the verification of particulars of the substituted candidates of the political parties. This is in response to its warning last week that failure by the parties to substitute indicted candidates would serve as an indication that the parties did not field any candidates for that election.
Addressing the candidates who stormed the INEC headquarters, the chairman affirmed that this would be the final substitution of candidates for the April polls. He said any party whose substituted candidates were disqualified would lose its right to contest.
However, National Publicity Secretary of AC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said last night hat INEC would be violating subsisting court orders if it disqualified the VP.
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