The Osun State Independent Electoral Commission, OSSIEC, has warned that candidates of some political parties may be disqualified from contesting the forthcoming Local Government elections in the state.
The OSSIEC chairman, Hashim Abioye revealed that the political parties affected included the All Progressives Congress, APC), Allied Peoples Movement, APM, and Action Peoples Party, APP.
Abioye, while presenting the report of the commission’s verification committee to journalists in Osogbo on Wednesday, said nearly all the 18 political parties that nominated candidates committed one infraction or the other.
He said the affected political parties failed to properly nominate candidates for the chairmanship positions in seven local government areas.
According to him, discrepancies were found between the names of candidates submitted by these parties and the names on their official nomination forms.
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“In the course of the verification exercise, a checklist was designed to gauge and verify the eligibility of each candidate’s age qualification, academic qualification, tax compliance, nomination fee compliance, and most importantly, sponsorship by the political party of the candidate as contained in the list of candidates submitted to the commission by the political party, were the yardstick
“Some political parties, notably the All Progressives Congress, the Allied Peoples Movement, and the Action Peoples Party ran foul of the provisions and procedure regarding substitution of candidates.
“While no substitution can be validly done without following the rules, any substitution or change of candidate done after the purported candidate intended to be a replacement for another must have been given and submitted nomination form despite his/her name not being on the list originally submitted to the commission would be void,” he said.
Responding, the Osun APC spokesperson, Kola Olabisi, said the party had not yet received the report.
He assured that the APC would review the commission’s findings before determining the next course of action.
Olabisi added, “We are a party that acts based on the rule of law. We will study the report to be sure what he said is devoid of victimisation”.
Kazeem Badmus is a graduate of Mass Communication with years of experience. A professional in journalism and media writing, Kazeem prioritses accuracy and factual reportage of issues. He is also a dexterous finder of the truth with conscious delivery of unbiased and development oriented stories.
