The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has emphasized the need for political parties to adhere strictly to the proposed schedules for conducting their party primaries for the Anambra 2025 Governorship Election.
This was disclosed in a statement issued on Friday by the National Commissioner & Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee of the INEC, Sam Olumekun, after a regular weekly meeting of the Commission on Thursday, 6th March 2025.
The statement said that, among other things, the Commission reviewed its preparations for the forthcoming off-cycle Governorship election in Anambra State, scheduled for Saturday, November 8th, 2025.
He recalled that the Commission, in line with the provision of Section 28(1) of the Electoral Act 2022, had published the Notice of Election on 13th November 2024, over 360 days before the date fixed for the election.
Olumekun noted that, according to the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the election, the conduct of primaries for nomination of candidates by Political Parties commences in the next two weeks, on 20 March 2025 and ends on 10 April 2025.
However, he regretted that only 12 of the 19 registered Political Parties in the country have submitted the detailed schedules of their primaries so far.
He said, “As agreed at our last consultative meeting with Political Parties held in January, doing so early will enable the Commission to plan for the effective monitoring of the primaries in line with the provision of Section 84 of the Electoral Act 2022.
“The seven parties that are yet to submit the required information are hereby reminded to do so in earnest.”
The Commission further called on Political Parties to adhere strictly to their proposed schedules.
He noted that sudden changes to the primaries’ dates, venues, and modes lead to avoidable demobilization and remobilization of our monitoring staff, thereby disrupting the Commission’s workflow.
