By Ayomide Otitoju
Three major opposition parties are missing from the ballot in Saturday’s bye-election conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission in Kano State.
The affected parties are the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), and a coalition involving the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
INEC has maintained that it is fully prepared to conduct what it described as a free, fair and credible poll in the Municipal and Ungogo state constituencies. The off-season election is being held to fill two vacant seats in the Kano State House of Assembly following the deaths of the former lawmakers last year.
At a recent media briefing, the Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Abdul Zango, assured journalists that all political parties were given equal opportunity to nominate candidates and that the commission was ready to deliver a transparent process.
However, the final list of candidates released by INEC showed that only nine political parties were cleared to contest the bye-election, excluding the PDP, NNPP and ADC.
According to the commission, participating parties include Accord (A), Action Democratic Party (ADP), Action Peoples Party (APP), African Action Congress (AAC), All Progressives Congress (APC), Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Young Progressives Party (YPP) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).
While INEC has yet to publicly explain the absence of the major opposition parties, the affected parties have accused the commission of denying them the opportunity to exercise their constitutional rights.
The NNPP, which is divided into three factions in Kano, reportedly submitted six different candidates for the two constituencies.
Reacting to the development, the Boniface-led faction of the NNPP, through Senator Mushud El-Jibril Doguwa, alleged that INEC unjustly disqualified its candidates.
“We duly submitted our candidates for the Municipal and Ungogo constituencies, but INEC refused to recognise our party for reasons best known to them,” Doguwa said, adding that the party was consulting its lawyers and would institute legal action against the commission.
Efforts to reach the Kwankwasiyya and Abdullahi Abiya-led factions of the NNPP were unsuccessful as of press time.
Similarly, the Kano State Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Yusuf Kibiya, accused the electoral body of violating provisions of the Electoral Act.
He said the party was given only four days to conduct its primaries and submit candidates’ names, describing the timeframe as inadequate and contrary to the spirit of the law. Kibiya added that the development was troubling for democracy and that the party would review its next steps.
