The Independent National Electoral Commission has refused to recognize Senator Godswill Akpabio and Senate President Ahmad Lawan as the All Progressives Congress candidates.
Lawan and Akpabio both ran in the APC presidential primary. However, after losing, the APC named both of them as senate candidates, but INEC refused to recognize them.
According to sources, the two were eventually recognized by the commission on Tuesday.
Responding in a statement titled, ‘Spurious Allegations in Respect of Nomination of Candidates in Some Senatorial Districts’, the commission said it had not recognised them.
In the statement signed by INEC National Commissioner, Festus Okoye, the commission said the matter was still in court and it would maintain the status quo.
“For the record, the commission has not recognised any of the two personalities as a senatorial candidate.
“We call for responsible reportage as against the unwarranted attack on the commission and its officials over a matter than can be easily fact-checked,” the statement read.
The commission said a certified true copy of Form 9C was uploaded by the APC and received by the Commission on June 17, 2022 when the nomination portal closed was presented.
It explained that the Form EC9 submission of names of candidates by political parties is the form uploaded by parties on the INEC nomination portal.
“The forms of the two personalities in question were not published by the commission. The decision of the commission triggered legal actions which are still ongoing. It therefore defies logic and common sense to go around and submit doctored documents purportedly recognising the duo as candidates when the matter is clearly sub-judice,” it said.