Despite Low Public Trust, INEC Publishes Final List of Ondo Gubernatorial Candidates

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has published the final list of candidates and their running mates for the November 26 Ondo State governorship election.

This was disclosed in a statement released in Abuja on Thursday by the National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun.

According to Mr Olumekun, personal particulars of the candidates and their running mates have been published at INEC state and local government offices in Ondo State.

Olumekun did point out, however, that by the deadline of June 10, two political parties—the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP)—had held new primaries to replace their previously nominated candidates and their running mates in accordance with Section 32 of the Electoral Act 2022.

He also noted that five parties—the African Action Congress (AAC), the Action Democratic Party (ADP), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) and the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), replaced their running mates only.

Overall, 17 political parties are fielding candidates for the election. No political party has nominated a female candidate, while one candidate nominated by the African Democratic Congress (ADC) is a person with disability (a paraplegic). The final list also gives the breakdown of the candidates by age and academic qualifications,” he said.

He added that the list has been published at the INEC office in Akure and uploaded to our website and social media platforms for public information.

For emphasis, parties shall conduct their campaigns with civility and decorum devoid of inciting language, violence, voter inducement and other infractions in accordance with the provisions of Section 92-97 of the Electoral Act 2022,” Mr Olumekun said.

In addition, he said that after the nomination process, political parties were now permitted to start public campaigns from Wednesday (19 June) till midnight of 14 November.

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