2023: Lawan missing from Senatorial candidates, as Tinubu, Atiku, Obi, 15 others make INEC Presidential list

…Surprises as Akpabio, Ibrahim Shekarau make senatorial list

…4,223 candidates contesting for 469 legislative positions

…1,101 candidates vying for 109 Senatorial seats, 3,122 candidates for Federal Constituencies

…As governorship, state constituencies candidates to know fate on 4th October

By Moses Adeniyi

Surprises have trailed the list of candidates for the 2023 Presidential and National Assembly Elections released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Tuesday.

According to the record, all the 18 political parties have fielded candidates and their running mates for the Presidential election.

According to the list analysed by Nigerian NewsDirect, for legislative elections, 4,223 candidates are contesting for 469 legislative positions of the National Assembly.

Of the figure, 1,101 candidates are vying for 109 Senatorial seats and 3,122 candidates for Federal Constituencies i.e. House of Representatives seats.

In terms of gender distribution, 3,875 candidates are male, made up of 35 for Presidential and Vice Presidential, 1,008 for the Senate and 2,832 for the House of Representatives.

Similarly, 381 females comprising one for Presidential, 92 for Senate, and 288 for House of Representatives are contesting. There are also 11 Persons with Disability (PWDs) in the race.

While for the Presidency, the number one seat of the Country, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu made the list as the candidate for  the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Peter Obi for the Labour Party (LP) among the 18-man Presidential candidates list for the forthcoming 2023 election, surprises showered the senatorial list as the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan was missing among the contestants for senatorial seats.

A circular released by INEC on Tuesday, captured the origin, age, and other details of the candidates.

For the presidency candidates, the record captured Tinubu as 70 years old, according to his own approved records.

This is against the hypothetical submission of the renowned flutist and former President of the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN) Tee Mac Omatshola Iseli, who had alleged that Tinubu was older than he claimed to be.

Tee Mac, who revealed that he was an in-law to Tinubu, had noted that the former Lagos State governor was 86 years and not 70.

For his qualification, the Commission wrote B.Sc in Business Administration.

The circular held Tinubu’s running mate, Shettima Kashim is 55 years old and presented Primary school certificate, General certificate of Education, B.Sc Agriculture.

Obi’s record as disclosed by the INEC circular, was FSLC WASC/GCE Degree and is 61 years old.

His running mate, Baba Ahmed Yusuf, holds FSLC GCE, PhD and is 53 years old.

The candidate of the PDP, Atiku is 75 and presented GCE, Masters, while his running mate Okowa Ifeanyi is 63 and presented HSC MBBS.

…Surprises shadow senatorial list as Lawan missing among contestants

Meanwhile, surprises have trailed the senatorial candidates list as the name of the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, was missing in the circular.

The development translates that the Senate President may have finally lost out in his bid to return to the red chamber, following the omission of his name from the final list of candidates for the 2023 Presidential and National Assembly Elections.

Recall that Lawan had preferred contesting to clinch the APC presidential ticket to run as the party’s presidential candidate for the 2023 elections, but lost at the primary, coming fourth.

However, while Lawan lost it on the list, Godswill Akpabio, another APC Presidential Aspirant made the list as the party’s candidate for Akwa Ibom Northwest Senatorial District.

Lawan’s predicament may not be unconnected with his failed attempt to clinch on the presidential ticket as the flagbearer for the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Having lost the primary, his move to clinch again the senatorial ticket for  Yobe North had ensued into battle with Bashir Machina, an unsuccessful fight which appears to have cost the APC with no candidate for the Yobe North senatorial district.

…Akpabio, Ibrahim Shekarau make  senatotrial candidates final list

Unlike Lawan, Godswill Akpabio, a former Governor of Akwa-Ibom who also had aspired for the APC presidential ticket, had through a court order, secured his party’s ticket to contest for the Akwa-Ibom North-West senatorial district in next year’s polls.

INEC documents had earlier showed that Machina was duly nominated as the candidate of APC for Yobe North senatorial district which is being claimed by Lawan.

In a certified true copy (CTC) of the report of INEC officials that monitored the primary election, signed by Omale Samuel, dated May 28, 2022, Machina scored 289 votes out of the 300 delegates that participated in the exercise.

For Akwa Ibom North-West, Udom Ekpoudom, a retired deputy inspector general of police had won the ticket before the APC leadership substituted him with Akpabio, only for last week’s ruling of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which ordered INEC to accept and publish Akpabio’s name as the candidate of the APC for the Akwa Ibom North-West senatorial.

The court had held that INEC acted illegally by refusing to accept and publish Akpabio’s name since it was sent to it by the APC.

INEC had refused to recognise Akpabio as a candidate on the ground that the commission did not monitor the APC primary which he claimed to have won.

Also, Ibrahim Shekarau made the list as the candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) for Kano Central Senatorial District, despite having defected from the NNPP about a month ago.

…Governorship, State Constituencies candidates to know fate on 4th October 2022 

This is just as the final lists of governorship candidates and those of state constituencies would be made known next month, 4th October 2022, INEC has disclosed.

At its regular weekly meeting, the Commission approved the final list of candidates for national elections (Presidential, Senatorial and Federal Constituencies) pursuant to section 32(1) of the Electoral Act 2022 and item 8 of the Timetable and schedule of activities for the 2023 General Election.

INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education committee, Barr. Festus Okoye in a statement explained that the publication of the full names and addresses of all nominated candidates followed the political parties’ conduct of primaries and completion of the nomination exercise.

“Nigerians may recall that at end of the process, the personal particulars of all nominated candidates were displayed in their constituencies nationwide as provided by section 29(3) of the Electoral Act.

“Subsequently, validly nominated candidates had the opportunity to voluntarily withdraw their candidature by notice in writing and personally deliver such notice to the political party that nominated them for the election.

“Thereafter, political parties substituted such candidates under section 31 of the Electoral Act for which the last day was 15th July 2022 for national elections and 12th August 2022 for State elections as clearly provided in item 6 of the Commission’s Timetable and Schedule of Activities.

“Thereafter, no withdrawal or substitution of candidates is allowed except in the event of death as provided in section 34(1) of the Electoral Act or pursuant to an order of a Court of competent jurisdiction.

“The list published today contains the names of candidates validly nominated for national elections at the close of party primaries and the period earmarked for withdrawal and substitution of candidates.

“The final list of candidates for state elections (governorship and state constituencies) will be published on 4th October 2022 as already indicated on the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2023 General Election.

“We note the fact that not all the political parties conducted primaries in all the constituencies, submitted the particulars of candidates that emerged from valid primaries or substituted their candidates after fresh primaries within 14 days as provided in section 33 of the Electoral Act.

“This has led to numerous litigations, some of which are ongoing. Where the commission was served with court orders by aggrieved aspirants or candidates before the publication of this list, these have been indicated under the remark column,” the statement read in parts.

“The list for specific constituencies is published in each State where they are located while the comprehensive nationwide list has been uploaded to the Commission’s website.”

The Commission appealed “to all political parties to channel any observations on the list of candidates to the Commission and such must be signed by the National Chairman and Secretary of the political party and supported with an affidavit as provided in section 32(2) of the Electoral Act 2022.”

…Abia

More so, in Abia, a total of 33 senatotrial candidates and 81 House of Representatives flag bearers from different political parties made the final list of contestants for the 2023 elections in the State.

The list signed by the Secretary of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Rose Oriaran-Anthony, was published at the INEC headquarters Umuahia on Tuesday.

The list revealed 11 candidates are contesting for Abia North senatorial seat; 10 for Abia Central; and 12 for Abia South.

The only three females in the male-dominated list include: Carol Dike-Okorafor, All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA (Abia North); Nnennaya Nwosu, APM (Abia North); and Blessing Nwagba, APC (Abia South).

According to the list, the oldest candidate is Desmond Ihezie of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) 89 (Abia South); while the youngest are Saidu Ahmed, also of NNPP (Abia North), 36; and Joseph Ulu, NRM (Abia South), also 36.

Some of the candidates that made the final list include: Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Abia South; Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe; APGA (Abia South); Senator Orji Uzor Kalu; APC (Abia North); and Senator Mao Ohuabunwa, PDP (Abia North).

Others are Col. Austin Akobundu, PDP (Abia Central); Chief Chuku Wachuku, YPP (Abia Central); and Darlington Nwokocha, Labour Party (Abia Central) who has “court order” as a remark against his column.

Meanwhile, out of the 81 candidates on the list of House of Representatives, only 12 are females while 69 are males.

The oldest candidate according to the list is Lawson Akpulonu, 77, African Democratic Congress, ADC (Ukwa East/Ukwa West federal constituency).