Ekiti 2018: INEC disqualifies governorship candidate

INEC has disqualified the governorship candidate of
PPC, Stephen Obasola, ahead of Ekiti July 14 election
- But the party has threatened to take legal action
against the INEC over the disqualification of its
candidate
- The Ekiti state INEC public relations officer, Taiwo
Gbadegesin, however, absolved the commission,
describing the situation as 'a self inflicted injury'
The Independent National Electoral Commission

The Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC) has disqualified and expunged the name
of the Providence People’s Congress (PPC)'s
governorship candidate, Stephen Obasola, from
the list of candidates for the July 14 Ekiti state
election.
Premium Times reports that Obasola emerged
through a primary supervised by INEC at the
party’s secretariat located at Okesa area in Ado
Ekiti.
NAIJ.com gathered that the commission, however,
said the PPC flag bearer was “technically

disqualified” from the race.
But the party has threatened to sue the
Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC) for disqualifying its governorship
candidate, Stephen Obasola, from the race.
The party's national chairman, Benson Adetona,
while addressing journalists on Monday, June 18,
said the party on May 14 submitted forms CF01
and CF02 to INEC in Abuja in compliance with
the commission’s guidelines.
He wondered why the party would have to be
punished unjustifiably, even when it submitted
the candidate’s name a day earlier than the May
15 stipulated by INEC.
Adetona accused a certain officer in the office of
the INEC national chairman, Mahmood Yakubu,
of playing pranks on the party, by rejecting the
forms earlier listed, on the excuse that they were
not attached with forms EC4 and EC5
He said a petition dated May 18, was forwarded
to Yakubu when it appeared that the commission
was not wiling to address the problem, but no
response has been received from the commission
on the petition.
“The fact that the name of our candidate was listed by
INEC as one of the 40 contenders that were acknowledged
from Ekiti office of INEC showed that our primary was free,
fair and credible, because our party operates like a family.
There is no division,” Adetona.
“When we took forms CF01 and CF02 to the INEC Electoral
Party Monitoring Department in Abuja, the officer detailed
for the collection said they have to be attached with forms
EC 4 and EC 5.
“But we told him the submission lapsed on May 15. He
convinced us that we should not mind , that we can come
on May 17 or 18 because of our peculiar situation.
“We got there on May 17 only for the same staff to reject
our form. We were referred to heads of Legal Department
and Electoral Party Monitoring , but nothing was done.
“We viewed this action as a serious infringement on our
fundamental rights to have a candidate in Ekiti election.
And this was a setback to our electoral system. Election can
only be deemed to be free and fair when INEC is fair to all
parties.
“As things stand now, we have no option than to seek legal
redress in court to ensure that our candidate participates in
this election”, he said.
However, the Ekiti state INEC public relations
officer, Taiwo Gbadegesin, absolved INEC,
describing the situation as “a self inflicted injury.”
“Submission of candidates is done by the party, so PPC
executive should be blamed for submitting the name of
candidate late. I want to believe that INEC as an arbiter
can’t disqualify candidate without a justifiable reason. PPC

must look inward to settle its problems,” he explained.