In reaction to news that it disqualified candidates for Bayelsa and Kogi gubernatorial elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has claimed that it did not disqualify anybody.
The electoral umpire said they were actually not validly nominated by their political parties.
This was disclosed by Festus Okoye, chairman, information and voter education committee, on Thursday, October 3, during a “Youth Campus” sensitisation programme organised by the commission at the Niger-Delta University, Amassoma, Bayelsa.
Okoye was reacting to claims by the candidates that they were disqualified by INEC.
According to him, political parties should be blamed for presenting candidates that did not meet the minimum requirements as spelt out by the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.
“No qualified candidate was disqualified, so, since some of the political parties did not submit valid nominations, the commission decided not to put them on ballot,” he said.
