INEC clears 380 candidates for guber poll

Independent National Elec­toral Commission (INEC) has cleared no fewer than 380 candidates to contest the February 28 governor­ship poll in 29 states of the federation.

The detailed statistics dis­playing the comprehensive lists with the age, party and aca­demic qualifications of the can­didates on the INEC’s official web site, further revealed that states like Imo, Kano, Sokoto and Zamfara had the highest number of governorship candi­dates, adding that while Imo and Kano had 22 candidates, Sokoto had 21 and Zamfara had 20.

According to the list, states like Enugu had 19 governor­ship candidates, Delta and Riv­ers with 18 candidates trailed the top list of states with the highest number of governor­ship candidates. Jigawa, Yobe, Cross River, Benue, Katsina, Nasarawa, and Ebonyi states top list of states with single digit of candidates.

The list also showed that Jigawa had four candidates, Yobe and Cross River had five governorship candidates, while others like Plateau had six can­didates, Benue and Nasarawa had eight candidates respec­tively. Ebonyi tops list of states with lowest number with nine candidates.

Further breakdown of the cleared candidates showed that while 25 female candidates were given the nod to battle their male-dominated counter­parts, no fewer than 60 females were picked as deputy gover­nors in all the states.

Although some states espe­cially the southern part of the country proved to be female friendly, however, some north­ern states like Katsina, Kebbi, Niger, Plateau, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara paraded majorly male governorship and deputy candidates with Zamfara prov­ing to be the worst gender sensi­tive state with only one female deputy out of the 20 aspirants.

There was obvious display of gross violation of the 35 per cent affirmative action as only one of the major political parties conceded the governorship slot to a female candidate.

The breakdown further showed that the political parties in Enugu State proved the most gender sensitive as they paraded the highest number of female candidates. The state has three governorship and six female deputy governorship candidates though none of the major par­ties were courageous enough to field a female governorship candidate.

Other states trailing Enugu in giving female politicians sense of belonging include Delta, Ebonyi, Niger and Kwara with two female governorship candi­dates, just as the political parties in Kano, Taraba, Lagos, Sokoto and Rivers states fielded only one female candidate each with the All Progressives Congress (APC) surprisingly picking a female governorship candidate, Senator Aisha Jumai Alhassan, in Taraba State.

Meanwhile, the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) has stated that it is yet to take a final deci­sion on whether to send election observers to monitor elections in the volatile North-East geo-political zone, stressing that it would depend on INEC’s re­sponse to certain factors.

Revealing that the team had tabled certain concerns to the electoral body, it however, ex­pressed determination to part­ner with the commission for a successful conduct of the elec­tion.

Head of Democracy and Good Governance, Mr. Eye­san Okorodudu, who spoke to newsmen after the ECOWAS election monitoring team paid a courtesy visit to the INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, in Abuja, said they had tabled some of the concerns they gath­ered in consultations with some stakeholders.