The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has disclosed in its final list of candidates for the 2023 general elections that 3,875 male and 381 female candidates will contest the presidential and federal parliamentary polls.

The general elections will be conducted for presidential, national and state constituencies and the governorship, but the list covers only the federal positions.

The list of candidates for the presidential elections includes Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Peter Obi of Labour Party (LP), Rabiu Kwankwaso of New Nigeria Party (NNPP), Omoyele Sowore of the African Action Congress (AAC ), Kachikwu Dumebi of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and 12 others with their running mates.

On Tuesday, Festus Okoye, the electoral body’s national commissioner and chairman of the information and voter education committee, said INEC approved the final list of candidates for the polls at its regular weekly meeting.

Mr Okoye added that the publication was pursuant to section 32(1) of the Electoral Act 2022 and item 8 of the ‘Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2023 General Election’. 

Mr Okoye also mentioned that the list contained the names of candidates validly nominated for national elections at the close of party primaries and the period earmarked for withdrawal and substitution of candidates.

According to the INEC official, the final list of candidates for state elections (governorship and state constituencies) will be published on October 4, as already indicated on the ‘Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2023 General Election’.

“We note the fact that not all the political parties conducted primaries in all the constituencies, submitted the particulars of candidates that emerged from valid primaries or substituted their candidates after fresh primaries within 14 days as provided in Section 33 of the Electoral Act,” Mr Okoye explained. 

He added, “This has led to numerous litigation, some of which are ongoing. Where the commission was served with court orders by aggrieved aspirants or candidates before the publication of this list, these have been indicated under the remark column.”

The commission’s spokesman disclosed that all the 18 political parties had fielded candidates and their running mates for the presidential election.

“For legislative elections, 1,101 candidates are vying for 109 senatorial seats and 3,122 candidates for federal constituencies, i.e. House of Representatives seats, making a total of 4,223 candidates contesting 469 legislative positions,” he stated. “In terms of gender distribution, 3,875 candidates are male, made up of 35 for presidential and vice-presidential election, 1,008 for the Senate and 2,832 for House of Representatives.”

According to the INEC list, 381 females, one for the presidential election, 92 for the senatorial poll, and 288 for the House of Representatives.

(NAN)