The names of Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, immediate past Minister of Niger Delta Affairs Godswill Akpabio, and Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi, were conspicuously missing on Friday as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) released the list of senatorial candidates for the 2023 general election.

Their names were missing from the list of senatorial candidates displayed on Friday by INEC at its offices across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

The particulars also included those of presidential candidates, their running mates, and House of Representatives candidates.

The Star had reported that the names of Lawan, Akpabio, and Umahi were submitted by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to INEC before the expiration of the deadline given to the parties to submit their candidates’ names.

However, the list released by INEC on Friday showed that the APC has no senatorial candidate for Yobe North and Akwa Ibom North West senatorial districts.

Lawan, Akpabio, and Umahi had contested the APC presidential primaries but failed to clinch the party’s ticket.

They were reported to have hoped of reclaiming the APC senatorial seats after failing to emerge as the party’s presidential candidate.

Speaking on the development, the INEC National Commissioner, Voters Registration, Education and Publicity, Festus Okoye, said the commission is not obligated to publish the names of candidates that did not emerge from valid party primaries.

Okoye made this known while speaking on Channels Television’s programme, Politics Today, on Friday.

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He said: “If a political party submits to the Independent National Electoral Commission the name of a candidate that did not emerge from party primaries or did not emerge from valid party primaries, the commission is not obligated to publish the name of such a candidate.”

Okoye, however, stated that INEC has not published the final list of validly nominated candidates.

He disclosed that the final list of validly nominated candidates will be published by INEC on September 20, 2022, adding: “That is for presidential and national assembly candidates.

“What the Commission has published, as of today, complies with Section 29(3) of the electoral act which says that the moment political parties comply with the provision of Section 29 (1) of the electoral act in terms of the submission of its validly nominated candidates, that the commission shall publish the personal particulars of such candidates in the constituencies where the candidates intend to contest election.

“In other words, for instance for a senatorial candidate, if a senatorial district covers four local governments, we will publish the personal particulars of such a candidate in the four local governments.

“So that is exactly what we have done. And we published the personal particulars of candidates that emerged from valid party primaries. And that’s what the law says we should do.

“So, if the name of any candidate was not published, or if the personal particulars of any candidate were not published today, the implication is that such a candidate did not emerge from valid party primaries,” Okoye said.

The Star