From John Adams, Minna
Only five, out of the over 91 registered political parties in Nigeria, are recognised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Niger State, for the February 16 presidential and National Assembly elections.
Similarly, only the two main political parties, the All Progressives congress (APC) and the People Democratic party (PDP) are recognised for the March 2 governorship and House of Assembly elections in the state.
INEC, in a document titled “Tracking of Candidates and Political Campaign Finances,” a copy which was made available to newsmen in Minna, the state capital, yesterday, showed that only the PDP and the ruling APC were recognised for the governorship election, and the campaign finances of the candidates were tracked.
In the same vein, APGA, KP, PDP, APC and SDP were recognised for the presidential election and only their candidates’ campaign finances were tracked.
The document, which was signed by the state Resident Electoral Commissioner, Professor Sam Egwu, did not state reasons why other political parties candidates campaign finances are being ignored and are not going to be tracked.