PDP Crisis: INEC Endorses Makarfi Faction, Accepts Candidate For Edo Election

Osagie Ize-Iyamu, is the Peoples Democratic

Party (PDP) candidate for the Edo Sept. 10

governorship election, the News Agency of

Nigeria (NAN) reports.

Nick Dazang, the Independent National

Electoral Commission (INEC), Deputy Director

for Voter Education and Publicity, disclosed this

in an interview with NAN on Tuesday in Abuja.

Mr. Dazang said the decision to accept Mr. Ize-

Iyamu, candidate of the PDP National Caretaker

Committee, led by Ahmed Makarfi, was

informed by the court’s decision on the matter.

“The commission collected the nomination from

Makarfi-led faction because he has a court

judgment that says INEC should accept his

candidate.

“Secondly, you will recall that it is only his

own faction of PDP primary that the

commission monitored,” Mr. Dazang said.

The PDP has been rocked by an internal crisis,

with two factions laying claim to the party’s

national leadership.

A faction led by Ali Modu Sheriff submitted the

name of Matthew Iduoriyekwemwen as its

candidate for the Sept. 10 Edo polls, after the

Makarfi faction had submitted Mr. Ize-Iyamu’s

name.

The Makarfi’s group, supported by all organs of

the party, including the Governors’ Forum and

the Board of Trustees, conducted its primary

on June 20 in Benin and elected Mr. Ize-Iyamu

as candidate.

On June 29, at another primary that was not

supervised by INEC as required by the Electoral

Act, Mr. Sheriff’s faction picked Mr.

Iduoriyekwemwen as the party’s candidate for

the Sept. 10 election.

INEC had said earlier that it would not accept

any candidate until a court decides on the

matter.

A Federal High Court in Port Harcourt on July 4

held that the May 21 national convention that

removed Mr. Sheriff as chairman and

constituted the National Caretaker Committee

was duly constituted.

The court also declared that the dissolution of

the National Working Committee and the

National Executive Committee by that

convention was valid.

In the judgment, Justice Abdullahi Liman

declared that the appointment of the caretaker

committee to oversee the party’s affairs was

legal and in line with the provisions of PDP

Constitution.

Mr. Dazang said on Tuesday that the

commission had received nomination forms

from 19 political parties including the All

Progressives Congress (APC).

He listed others as: Action Aliance (AA),

African Democratic Congress (ACD), Advance

Congress of Democrats (ACD), Allied Congress

Party of Nigeria (ACPN), All Progressives Grand

Alliance (APGA), Citizens Popular Party (CPP),

Independent Democrats (ID) among others.