Politicians and political parties have been warned against the substitution of candidates by Mr. Mike Igini, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, in Akwa Ibom State.
He advised the politicians to be wary as such was not permitted under the 2022 Electoral Act as amended.
Igini in a radio program in Uyo monitored by reporters correspondent stressed that the only way one can be substituted according to the law is by withdrawal or death of the flagbearer.
Speaking on the rumored emergence of former Minister of Niger Delta, Senator Godswill Akpabio as the APC Senatorial candidate for Akwa Ibom North West (Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District), Igini said such a move was nothing but a “Nollywood fantasy.”
According to him,”By virtue of Section 31 of the 2022 Electoral Act, the only way somebody can be replaced in any form is through withdrawal by an individual or death. The law is not saying you should go and kill people so that you can have yourself on the ballot, the law is saying that those who have emerged at all levels up to the presidential level, you can decide that you are no longer interested. You can write an application signed by yourself, delivered to your party who will now deliver it to INEC, but nobody can shave the political head of another person in his or her absence.
“The report of the Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District APC primary as submitted to INEC headquarters in Abuja is final. It is concluded. The train has left the station. The timeline is clear. All those who are in politics should go and study the 2022 Electoral Act very well. I hear people talking about the substitution. If you look at Section 31 and Section 34 of the Electoral Act, those of you who are still carrying the old idea of the 2010, and 2012 Electoral Act in your head, thinking you can substitute willfully, it is no longer so.
“Number two is only in the case of death. Even at that, there will now be a fresh primary. This is the new law. So what we are seeing going on is clearly a misnomer.”
The Commissioner added that a rerun can only be conducted among those who participated in the first Senatorial election of May 27, 2022, adding that the Senatorial primary for Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District was neith