By Our Correspondent
#TrackNigeria – The National Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC Professor Mahmood Yakubu has announced that the Commission would issue Certificates of Return to the new winners of the general elections in Zamfara state.
Professor Yakubu announced this Saturday after Commission deliberated on the Supreme Court verdict which annulled the victory of the All Progressives Congress, APC in the state because of improper primaries.
Announcing the Commission’s position, the INEC Chairman , “Governor & Deputy Governor-elect, Senators-elect & Members of the House of Representatives-elect will receive their certificates on Monday 27th May 2019 @ the Commission’s Electoral Institute at 2.00pm.”
The statement posted on the Commission’s twitter, added “Members of the State House of Assembly-elect will receive their certificates from the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Zamfara State at the INEC State Office in Gusau on Friday 31st May 2019 at 10.00am.
Yakubu urged all stakeholders to take note of the Zamfara matter. “I wish to seize this opportunity to draw the attention of all stakeholders, but particularly the political parties, to the implications of the Supreme Court judgment on the Zamfara matter”, he said.
“It is clear that properly conducted party primaries are cardinal to the proper internal functioning of political parties, the electoral process and our democratic system at large.
“Therefore, political parties must take very seriously the conduct of primaries according to all extant rules, including the monitoring of the processes by INEC to avoid a repeat of the Zamfara experience.
Speaking on scheduled Bayelsa and Kogi polls, he recalled that the Commission has since 9thApril 2019 issued the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2019 Bayelsa and Kogi Governorship elections by which party primaries are scheduled to hold between the 2ndand 29thAugust 2019.
He appealed to “political parties intending to field candidates in the elections to adhere strictly to this and other timelines in the Timetable and Schedule of activities.”