By Goodluck Ikiebe
Following the withdrawal of the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Hon. Jerry Obasi from the contest for the Ohaozara, Onicha and Ivo federal constitutency election, a legal Practioner has revealed that the party is at risk of not having a candidate for the federal constitutency.
Barrister Williams Okeh, a consutitional lawyer, who spoke with our correspondent stated that the new electoral law has come to stay and therefore has foreclosed the old orders.
According to him, “Whereas Section 31 of the Electoral Act, 2022 on Withdrawal of candidate provides that:
A candidate may withdraw his or her candidature by notice in writing signed by him and delivered personally by the candidate to the political party that nominated him for the election and the political party shall convey such withdrawal to the Commission not later than 90 days to the election”
On procedures to change a candidate, he said that section 33 of the Electoral Act, 2022 on Political parties changing candidates provides that, “a political party shall not be allowed to change or substitute its candidate whose name has been substituted under Section 29 of the Act, except in the case of death or withdrawal by the candidate”
“Provided that in the case of such withdrawal or death of a candidate, the political party affected shall, within 14 days of the occurrence of the event, hold a fresh primary election to produce and submit a fresh candidate to the commission for the election concerned”
Barrister Okeh added that in account of the reference Section 33 of the Electoral Act to Section 29 of the same Act, it is important to reproduce the provision of the said Section 29:
(1) Every political party shall, not later than 180 days before the date appointed for a general election under this Act, submit to the Commission, in the prescribed forms, the list of the candidate the party proposes to sponsor at the elections, who must have emerged from valid primaries conducted by the political party”.
“Whereas by the INEC time table, and in line with Section 31 and 33 of the Electoral Act, 2022 the Commission notified political parties and the general public that the last day for withdrawal by candidates, replacement of withdrawn candidates by political parties in respect of the National Assembly was 15th July, 2022”, Okeh disclosed.
The Legal Practitioner maintained that by the letter of withdrawal signed by Hon. Jerry Obasi, whose name was published by INEC as its Candidate, PDP seizes to have a candidate for the election.
“By the letter and duly sworn affidavit dated 26th October, 2022, Hon. Obasi Jerry Okechukwu, the duly nominated candidate of the People’s Democratic Party voluntarily elected to withdraw from the race.
On account of the said letter and by the extant guidelines binding on the Commission and all political parties, the PDP has no Candidate for the election because while section 33 deal with withdrawal and replacement can not be said of Section 31 that deal with only withdrawal.
