TheCable

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it did not monitor any re-run primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Aboh Mbaise-Ngor Okpala federal constituency, Imo state.

Speaking to journalists on Monday, in Owerri, the state capital, Chinenye Osuji, INEC public relations officer in the state, said there was no directive for the electoral officials to observe the primary election.

In January, a federal high court had in January sacked Albert Agulanna, who emerged as the PDP candidate in the 2023 house of representatives election, seeking to represent the constituency.

The lower court also ordered that a fresh primary be held in the federal constituency within the next 14 days.

Earlier in the month, an appeal court in Owerri barred INEC and the PDP from conducting a rerun primary election of the PDP for the constituency.

“Any political party that decides to conduct its primaries in the absence of INEC is an effort in futility,” Osuji said.

“INEC has to be present to monitor the exercise. If PDP decides to conduct the re-run primaries for Aboh Mbaise-Ngor Okpala federal constituency without INEC’s involvement, they know what they have done. So, it’s not for us to say.

“The head of the election and political parties monitoring (EPM) department has said that there was no directive from the headquarters to observe the exercise. Maybe PDP didn’t write the commission in good time for whatever reason, I can’t really say. You can reach the EPM for further clarifications on the subject matter.”