 Ahmed Lawan out, Aqabi'u and Umahi in as INEC releases final lists for national elections. And Nigerians may shock political class in 2023, says Abbasaki. This is Plus Politics, I am Mary Anacol. The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, released the final list of Presidential and National Assembly candidates of all the political parties contesting next year's general election. Unfortunately, the President of the Senate, Dr. Ahmed Lawan, whose nomination for Yobay North was being challenged by another member of his party, the All Progressive Congress APC, Bashir Sharif Machina, who did not make the list. However, the controversial nominations of a Boeing State Governor, Dave Umahi, and a former governor of Aqabi'u State, Gotswil Aqabi'u have been accepted by the Electoral Commission's citing court orders. In a statement, the INEC National Commissioner in charge of publicity and the chairman of voter education, Faisal Zakoyi, said the publication of the full names and addresses of all nominated candidates followed a political party's conduct to primaries and completion of the nomination exercise. Joining us to break this down is Gideo Logo. He's a legal practitioner and a political analyst. Thank you so much, gentlemen, for joining us. My pleasure. Great. I'll start with you, Barista Logo, because you're a lawyer. Many would wonder why the Senate President had a different case or situation as opposed to the governor of Aqabi'u State and Governor Dave Umahi, who all one would lump in the same plate, saying that these two people, or these three men, picked two nomination forms for different roles or different offices, and two out of the three were able to secure the nominations for those offices as opposed to the Senate President. Joining us, how court orders worked in favor of Umahi and Aqabi'u, but not in the case of the Senate President. David Umahi got an expert state order that he should be listed, and the former governor of Aqabi'u State said to Aqabi'u also got the announcement of the court that he should be listed. But interestingly, that was not the case with the Senate President Ahmad Lawa. Though the matter is still in court, and for now, Aqabi'u should move forward. And even the case of Umahi, David Umahi, the matter is still in the court of appeal, but the Aqabi'u had to follow an expert state order given by the federal high court. So we are still watching and waiting to see how it will all go. But as it is now in U.B. State, particularly U.B. South, there is no candidate for APC to represent them in the National Assembly, particularly the Senatorial seat between the two contenders, and that is a big lesson we need to learn from. And the other contender contending with Ahmad Lawa, his position is that at the time the primaries took place, Ahmad Lawa was contesting for the President's at the primary level, which he lost, and an argument came up that there was a subsequent primary where Ahmad Lawa won. And then right now, Aynek is saying none of them will be recognized. As I said earlier, let's watch and see how it will all go. It's super interesting. Thank you, Candi. Yeah. Yeah. I'm so sorry to talk over you. Again, let's look at the legalities around what has happened, what has transpired across the country in terms of one person picking two different tickets for two different offices. The Senate President is a clear example, Aqabi'u, of course, the governor across the state and several others. What does the Electoral Act have to say about this, because, I mean, it looks more like it's for the want of a better way to describe it in a kalu kalu way of looking for votes or trying to get an office or hold on to a ticket. The Electoral Act found at it both the candidates will tell you they did not pick the nomination. In the case of Governor Ayadeh of the country of the state, there was another primary where he clearly, reportedly won. So he may not claim that he has two nominations. And in the case of Aqabi'u also, recall that he had to step down and they know how to play these, these politics. But the position of the law is that a party should present who the candidates to represent them is. And this time around, the FPC could not conclusively present the candidates in terms of Yubi south. And for now, even the state government is still on the basis of the expatriate order of the court. But the matter is still in the people of Aqabi'u. And I may not comment so much on it, let's see how it turns out with them. And of course, INEC is expected to respect the rule of law. When you look at INEC established under section 153 of the Nigerian constitutional amendment, the major assignment is to serve as an independent and effective election management body committed to the conduct of the fair and credible election for sustainable democracy in Nigeria. And they have set out what they expect from the parties to do. And the parties have conducted their primaries to down all the solutions those who need to do substitution. And the finalist has now been declared by INEC. But like I said, how final that list is, it's still to be determined by the self-dependent decisions of the higher courts as some of the matters are still in it. Let me come to you, Mr. Shoalmi. Let's talk about the politics of this all. As much as many would say that the 2023 elections is one of the ones to watch, it would be one of the most interesting elections that Nigeria has ever experienced. This is what was set for the 2015 elections. But then why do you think that these loopholes, I'd like to put them that way, these loopholes in the electoral act or in our laws, electoral laws have been so taken advantage of by politicians. Because again, even though the electoral act founds out what has happened and what has transpired, names of certain people have made it to INEC's final list. So again, what's the essence of the electoral act and how can we deter these kinds of actions because this is being done with reckless abandon? Yes, first and foremost, I must say that there is no loophole in relation to the electoral acts that deal, that frowns at two more than one nomination. You cannot contest for more than one office at a time. It's very clear and explicitly stated. What we see going on currently is not a loophole. We have politicians pushing the act to the courts, asking the courts to interpret it. In one instance, you have a situation where there are different requirements to be met before the results of the election can be accepted. One is INEC must supervise the convention or the primaries that produced the candidates. So what you've seen going on is that the political parties decide to rely on those who are playing the games, to rely on another court judgment, which says that I think is a political judgment, that it is only the political party that must inform INEC of who their own candidate is in the election. So that is what they're trying to exploit, whether supervised or not supervised by INEC. They claim that we've had another primaries and they're having a new person, not supervised by INEC. So what you see is still the same political games. It's quite an opportunity that we find ourselves in this situation because nobody can deny that a Pabiu actually campaigned and contested for the primaries to be the person. He withdrew at the last minute, at the point when they were about to vote. That is why. In the case of the Umahi, he went to court. They caught all that INEC to accepting, likewise Pabiu. They went to court on expatriation, which I think the NJC has found out that the judges should not be hearing expatriation motion without all the parties being present. But he succeeded in getting the judge to allow him to contest the election. In the interim, pending the determination of this, so eventually, he might still have to do the things. Then in the case of the Senate president, he did not go to court, or at least the court has not made any pronouncements, compelling INEC to fill them. So currently, INEC is right to say, we're not going to fill them, even though the party is demanding. But INEC cannot put the other candidates that they supervise the Senate primaries, simply because they are not allowed to say the party, the political party, writes to inform INEC that this is a candidate. But INEC can refuse to recognize a candidate whose primary they did not witness, except they caught otherwise direct. So what you see going on is not a loophole in the law. It's politicians trying to flex the law, so get it to different judicial interpretation until it gets to the Supreme Court, where there will be a final judicial announcement. That is what is going on for it. Let me bring it because we're looking at the final list, and on that list, most political parties had, of course, submitted names of their candidates, but let's talk about presidential candidates here. As we speak, the ADC is at war within itself. We see a party divided against itself. We see the presidential candidate, Kachiku, who has been somewhat ousted, reportedly, by the chairman and the National Working Committee. And then we also see a presidential candidate who say, no, well, this particular chairman has been chairman of the party, or national chairman, for 17 years, and his tenor has expired, and so he has been asked to step down. So in a case such as this, what happens at the end of the day? Because the party is saying, well, at first they suspended him, and then, of course, now they're saying, we're removing you from the party because we think that you are a member of the PDP. In cases like that, the name of the candidate has already been submitted to INEC, but then the party is saying, we no longer recognize you as our presidential candidate. Well, what is clear is that in the case of ADC, what is very clear is that they have their own internal problems. One faction suspends some people, and the other faction also suspended some other people or expelled them from the party. Now, the problem is this, who's faction? Are you still there? I think we lost that connection with Mr. Jones. INEC convention will be recognized by INEC, and should that happen, should that be the case, then the other faction moves up. Well, in the case of the presidential candidate, INEC can no longer remove the person as said directed by the courts. So what you're likely going to see is he will stay on the ballot box without actually having, is what will not count towards the election. He will not be a candidate if not sponsored by a political party. But at this current point in time, we don't know what the reaction of the candidate can be. It would also claim that the party is factionalized, and the law recognizes that if the party is factionalized, it can still proceed and contest the election. Let me go back to Barista Gideologo. We're seeing almost a similar situation with the AAC, which Mahilesha Oure is the presidential candidate. We've also seen the party disown him outrightly, putting out statements and calling him names. These are all happening a few weeks to the kick off of campaigns, and one would think that at this point, political parties would be gearing up for their campaigns proper. I have also seen a bit of unrest within the NNPP with the movement of one of its strongmen to the APC. So again, what does this say about these smaller parties where one would have said, well, if we're moving, because some people say that Nigerians are tired of the known old parties and they're looking for something new? What does this say about that third force that Nigerians have been looking out for? One of the critical roles of INEG is to supervise the parties, but then what level of control has INEG over the big rings within the parties? And if you look at the vision statement of INEG, to be one of the best election management bodies in the world that meets the aspirations of Nigerian people. And when you talk about the values, you talk about autonomy and transparency, integrity, credibility, too, INEG is battling to display this value of impartiality dedication. And on the other side, expecting that it parties themselves. We organize themselves in a decent manner to help INEG achieve her own vision. Like in the case of Yubi now, what could INEG have done beyond what the party is able to present to them? And now INEG cannot be seen to be disobeying called others, whether it is an expatriate or, you know, so these are the issues that we have. Nigerians have been looking up to some of the political parties to rise up and give us vibrant opposition, but you find that within these parties also there are different kinds of big rings that is not giving them the solid platform to really engage for accountability in the management of the resource of the nation towards creating common world for common good. So these are some of the issues that we have. But even if these parties cannot pull themselves together, they cannot stop INEG from proceeding with high responsibilities. As we speak now, about 18 parties have been able to rule out presidential candidates and whether we like it or not. The INEG has a timetable to follow. And they are following this critically and trying to rely on the provisions of the Electoral Act. As of now, we have about 1,001 candidates buying for 1,009 senatorial seats, about 3,022 candidates for federal constitution, talking about the House of Representatives, making it 2,000 or 4,223 candidates contesting for 469 legislative positions. So this is not a small assignment for INEG. And that is why the parties also must help INEG in delivering on the expectations of being a frontline election management body. So these are some of the issues that we have now. And it also appears as if more are showing interest. And one of the headache that goes beyond INEG, even back to the people now, is why some politicians are desperate to hold on to office. They move from one office to another. You compare that with what happened in the UK recently where the prime minister had to resign because the parliamentarians were resigning. But here it's difficult for politicians to step aside for others to come and have a taste of office. So these are issues that are very serious as it is now. And INEG has the responsibility to ensure that the best of candidates show up on the stage eventually. But that also depends on the candidates that are presented by the parties. So by and large, the parties have a very huge role to play in helping INEG as an independence body. For it appears that that independence needs a lot of effort for projecting by INEG. Let me go back to you, Mr. Shoomi. Let's talk about the people now, the voting public. All of these somewhat teething problems or even problems that have become unbearable or have broken some of these smaller political parties into halves. What's the rippling effects on the voting public? Like I said earlier on, many have decided that they were going to look for alternatives, I beg your pardon, in terms of voting, moving away from the known political parties, the, in quotes, big political parties. And we've seen, heard all kinds of allegations ranging from bribing, non-internal democracies, et cetera, et cetera. Why does this leave the average voter, again, like I asked the first time? I mean, we see the third-force movement in the Labour Party, which has somewhat cost this to be a three-horse race. But for those who, at the end of the day, might have been followers of some of these other political parties, where does this leave them? And the rippling effect of all of these insincerities within these other smaller political parties that one would have had some hope in? Yes, what you see is those who are advocating that those who are actually stating that they are fed up with the current two, more or less two political parties' domination of the political space are employing the wrong tactics. I don't think what they're trying to do is going to work. I will tell you why. One, I feel that it's a big error on their part not to think of setting up their own political party. All the political parties in existence currently were set up by people who may not necessarily share their viewpoints. And that is why you see the crisis working some of these new political parties, but not the less popular political parties, where you have candidates springing up here and there. Apart from the Labour Party, which in itself had its own crisis when Peter Albi joined it. You remember that I still don't know whether it's still challenging. There's a case in court on the issue of chairman chief of Labour Party, which was filed by somebody from the East. In court, I don't know whether they resolved that. That particular part seems to have gone cold. We've not really heard anything from that person. So whether the case is on or not, we don't know now. Nobody has said the case has been thrown out or resolved one way or the other. What you see is not strange, because those who create those parties will not allow some other people to come in and hijack them. They will probably get those who control those political parties to create sufficient crises in a way that they're not threatening the dominant political party in any form. That is why I said, I think there was a tactical error. It's a tactical error to say you're going to go into a party formed by someone else, but not formed by people of like minds. If it's a case of the youth wanting power, I think the youth can form a party with people of like minds rather than saying, we're going to move into one of these parties sponsored by top politicians in existing dominant political parties. So this is the major problem. And that is why you see the crisis going on within all these smaller parties in the country, running off to the election. And unfortunately and regrettably, many of the candidates are very solid, good candidates. You know, Kachiku, they are all solid candidates, but they have to contain, you know, with these crises and that will affect their performance and it doesn't play well with the vote in public. And this is quite unfortunate. And some people, you know, have this erroneous impression that you see what we're saying, even these youths cannot manage themselves. Is it all the other members of the party youths? They are not. These are older people, experienced politicians that actually set up those political parties. And some people are holding, you know, they are placeholders in the executive council of those parties for them. So for anybody to move in, without setting up your own party with people of like minds, I think this is a big mistake. It is not going to work currently. And it doesn't speak well with this voting public. The impression they have is oh, they can't organize themselves, they are in crises, they are fighting each other, which is not the case. Okay. Well, I guess the exciting times ahead for us, especially with 2023, I want to say thank you. Gideologo is a legal practitioner. Viodochome is a political analyst. Thank you so much, gentlemen, as we look forward to 2023. It might be a finger-biting moment, but we'll look forward to it. Well, thank you for staying with us. We'll take a short break. And when we return, we'll be discussing the 2023 elections, the predictions, surprises, and probable outcomes in just a moment.