‘INEC Has No Hand In Party Primaries’

Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Kwara State, Garba Attahiru-Madami, has said the commission has nothing to do with the primary elections of political parties.

Attahiru-Madami, who was on a radio programme, insisted it was not INEC’s duty to conduct primary election for political parties, contrary to public opinion. He was reacting to a complaint that primary election did not hold in Moro/Edu Federal Constituency.

“It is rather unfortunate that politicians who should know about the conduct of primary election do not know. INEC has nothing to do with primary elections of political parties because they handle their primaries; it is their show.

“Parties can do it the way they like, our own is to monitor the process and write our reports. If a member of any political party is not satisfied with the process, the he or she is free to go to court.

“It is when they get to the court that the judge will ask for INEC’s report, haven observed and monitored the election. Most of the politicians and political parties are ignorant of that. The primary election is their own jurisdiction, they are the one empowered to conduct their primaries,” the REC said.