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With barely six weeks to the general elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is hampered by having to defend itself against over 150 court cases filed against it.

The commission’s chairman, Attahiru Jega, told journalists at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja yesterday that the challenge of compiling the final list of party candidates is worsened by the huge pile of cases it is defending in various courts. Mr. Jega said several exparte orders have been served on the commission restraining it from accepting and recognising some candidates nominated by political parties.

Meeting challenges

Mr Jega said, “The greatest challenge on the nomination process is the alarming number of court orders. There are over 150 pre-election cases filed nationwide against the commission. This morning (Monday) alone, 10 new cases were served on the commission, with the likelihood of many more yet to be served.” When asked about the cost of the pending cases to the commission, the chairman said, “no kobo has been paid to any lawyer,” adding that the lawyers handling many of the cases are doing so out of patriotism. He said some of the cases were also being handled by in-house lawyers.

Submission deadline

The commission chairman also said that 54 out of the 63 registered political parties have submitted their list of candidates who will contest in the forthcoming elections.

Amongst those who have submitted the list of their candidates are the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria People’s party (ANPP), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). These parties, he said have candidates for all constituencies while other parties have candidates in varying numbers.

He also disclosed that a total of 20 Presidential candidates will contest the elections. The commission had earlier stipulated that the last day for the withdrawal of candidates for the election to the National Assembly was February 14, while the last day for the withdrawal of presidential and vice presidential candidates was yesterday. Candidates for governors and deputy governors and state houses of assembly have up to February 28 to withdraw their candidature or substitute names.

“The complete list of nominated candidates is expected to be published by the commission between March 2 and 16 in accordance with the time table and schedule of activities issued by the commission,” he said.

Preparations for elections

On the preparations so far made for the elections, the commission’s chairman told journalists that the electoral body has substantially deployed non-sensitive materials and consumables for the exercise.

He also said plans have been concluded for the recruitment and training of 360,000 ad hoc staff, which will include members of the National Youth Service Corps(NYSC) and students from tertiary institutions. The process of accrediting observer groups and the media for the election is almost complete, he said.

Mr. Jega said the commission will spare no effort to deliver on its promise that the elections will be free, fair and credible.