From Chidi Nnadi, Enugu
The Enugu State Independent National Electoral Commission (ENSIEC) on Monday announced that it has cleared all the candidates submitted to it by the political parties to contest in the local government election scheduled to hold in the state on November 4.
The ENSIEC had earlier disqualified 73 candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as well as the candidates of the other political parties except the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on reasons ranging from non-possession of tax clearance certificate, Permanent Voters Cards to failure of some of the candidates to attend screening earlier organized by the commission.
Consequently, the APC last Friday sued ENSIEC, asking the court to compel the electoral umpire to publish all the names of its candidates for the election.
But Monday, ENSIEC in a terse statement signed by its Secretary, Mr. Tagbo Nnamah, and obtained by Daily Sun said that all the candidates fielded by the political parties would be allowed to run for the election.
It said that: “Following the meeting of the commission with leaders of various political parties in Enugu State, the commission has resolved that every person who was selected and presented by any political party and considered fit to represent the party in the forthcoming local government elections is free to stand for the said election without any disqualification.
“In the light of this, all names submitted by political parties on or before October 26 and names sent for replacement in appropriate cases are, therefore, valid and favourably considered.
“Please accept the assurances of the commission’s best regards.”