The Independent National Electoral Commission has debunked reports that it withdrew its appeal against the judgment of the Kano State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.
INEC made this known in a statement by its National Commissioner in Charge of Information and Voter Education, Sam Olumekun, on Saturday.
The legal officer of the commission in Kano had, in a letter, said that the commission instructed its legal team to withdraw the appeal it filed against the judgment of the tribunal nullifying the election of the state Governor, Kabir Yusuf.
The commission has reportedly filed a 33-ground appeal against the judgment.
However, in the statement, the commission said the letter from the legal officer was not authorised.
It read, “We wish to state categorically that the letter was not authorised. It has since been withdrawn and the officer reprimanded.
“The public is therefore advised to discountenance the insinuation that the Commission has withdrawn from the case or even worse abandoned the appeal.
“We wish to state categorically that where litigants join INEC in a case, the commission is under obligation to respond accordingly.
“We have therefore instructed our lawyers to proceed in line with extant policy of the Commission. The policy has not changed.”
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Grand Alliance are among political parties that have yet to submit their audit reports from the 2023 general election, Sunday PUNCH has learnt.
The Independent National Electoral Commission conducted the presidential and National Assembly elections on February 25, while governorship and state Assembly polls were held on March 11.
Eighteen political parties registered for the 2023 election.
According to Section 89 of the Electoral Act 2022, political parties are to submit the audited returns of their election expenses within six months after the conclusion of an election.
As of September 14, 2023, our correspondent gathered that only eight political parties have submitted election expenses to the commission.
Efforts to get the names of the parties that adhered to the law from the commission proved abortive.
However, our correspondent gathered on Saturday that the likes of the Labour Party, Social Democratic Party, New Nigeria People’s Party, and Action Democratic Party, were among others that have complied with the law.
The LP National Legal Adviser, Kehinde Edun, said, “The party has submitted its audit to INEC. For those that have not submitted, INEC will only send a reminder to them, though, the commission ought to monitor the situation.”
When asked if the party has submitted its audit to the commission, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Party, Yabagi Sani, noted “The answer to your question is yes. The party has submitted its 2023 election audit.”
On the other hand, PDP, APGA, African Action Congress among others have yet to submit their audit reports.
A source in the PDP told our correspondent, “We are working on it. So, by Tuesday or thereabout, we will submit it. The delay is actually because the party Financial Secretary is not around.”
The General Secretary of the AAC, Ina Okopi-Agu, said, “We have not submitted at the national level, but at the state level, some of our candidates have submitted theirs to INEC.”
Also, the National Chairman, APGA, Sylvester Ezeokenwa, noted that its auditing was in progress.
Ezeokenwa noted, “We are yet to submit our expenses to INEC, but our auditors are putting things together and when we are done, we will be able to do that.”
As of the time of filing in this report, our correspondent could not ascertain if the ruling All Progressives Congress had submitted theirs to the commission as the party neither responded to calls nor SMS.
Our correspondent further reached out to the Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi but he failed to respond.
However, a source in the commission told our correspondent that “some of the parties are sending in their audit reports. A letter will be sent to the erring parties on their obligations under the law.”
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