2023: Obi, Tinubu, Atiku, 15 Others Presidential Candidates, 4,223 NASS Candidates Make INEC’s Final List

*As Lawan Missing As Akpabio Makes INEC Senatorial List

A total of 18 presidential candidates have been cleared by the Independent National Electoral Commission for the 2023 forthcoming general election.

The commission disclosed this in a statement released on Tuesday and signed by its National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye.

The new list is a final copy of the list released by the electoral body at its offices nationwide in June.

The commission said 4,223 contestants have also been cleared for senatorial and house of representatives elections in the forthcoming 2023 election.

According to INEC, the final list was released following the approval by the leadership of the commission at the meeting held on Tuesday.

It noted that the approval was in 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.

According to the list, 109 candidates would be jostling for senatorial seats and 3,122 candidates for House of Representatives seats.

“In terms of gender distribution, 3,875 candidates are male, made up of 35 for Presidential and Vice Presidential, 1,008 for Senate and 2,832 for House of Representatives. Similarly, 381 females comprising 1 for the Presidential, 92 for the Senate, and 288 for the House of Representatives, are contesting. There are also 11 Persons with Disability (PWDs) in the race,” the statement reads.

It added that “The list for specific constituencies is published in each State where they are located while the comprehensive nationwide list has been uploaded to the Commission’s website.”

The commission said the final list of candidates for State elections (Governorship and State Constituencies) will be published on 4th October 2022, 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.

“This has led to numerous litigations, 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 said that withdrawal or substitution of candidates would not be allowed except in the event of death as provided in section 34(1) of the Electoral Act or pursuant to an order of a Court of competent jurisdiction.

It appealed to all political parties to channel any observations on the list of candidates to the Commission, and such must be signed by the National Chairman and Secretary of the political party and supported with an affidavit as provided in section 32(2) of the Electoral Act 2022.

Meanwhile, Senate President Ahmad Lawan’s name is not in the final list of contestants published by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Lawan and Bashir Machina have been locked in a long drawn battle over the ticket of the ruling party for Yobe North which Lawan currently represents.

However, Godswill Akpabio, former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, made the list as the APC candidate for Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District.

Earlier in the week, a Federal High Court in Abuja had ordered INEC to accept and publish Akpabio’s name as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Akwa Ibom North-West District for the 2023 elections.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Tuesday published the final lists of presidential and National Assembly candidates of the 18 registered political parties in the country.

See the full list here.