INEC withdraws 70 certificates of return in 2019 general elections

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said that it has withdrawn 70 certificates of return issued to candidates in the 2019 general election.

According to THISDAY report, the National Commissioner in charge of Information, Publicity and Voter Education at INEC, Mr. Festus Okoye who revealed this yesterday at the Election Reform Roundtable organised by the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room and Kofi Annan Foundation in Abuja, said that the commission is still reviewing other cases of electoral malfeasance.

Speaking on some of the challenges facing the commission, Okoye said that as at yesterday, INEC had about 809 pre-election cases to contend with as against 800 post-election cases.

“The implication is that the commission has more pre-election matters than post-election cases. As at yesterday, the INEC has withdrawn and reissued over 70 certificates of return issued to those who were previously elected into various state and national elective offices and there are more to be voided and reissued in the days ahead,” he said.

Okoye blamed the high incidence of voiding of certificates of return to the not-too-transparent party primaries conducted by the various political parties.

Okoye said the commission is planning to engage the political parties in a dialogue on how to correct the abnormalities in their internal operations as well to seek ways of pruning the number of parties in the country