2023: Option Left For Tinubu, Peter Obi To Substitute Their Running Mates – INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has said that vice presidential placeholders can only untie themselves from their recognised ticket by writing to it accompanied with a sworn affidavit of withdrawal.

The INEC which gave the clarification following the decision of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Labour Party (LP) to submit the names of their presidential flagbearers along with interim vice presidential candidates to beat the June 17, 2022 deadline, said that political parties presidential tickets are considered valid with their running mates; else the tickets would be inchoate and therefore invalid.

National Commissioner of Information and Voter Education of INEC, Mr. Festus Okoye, who gave the clarification on Monday when he featured on Arise TV on Monday morning, said the running mates could only be substituted through a letter to the Commission with an attached sworn affidavit.

Okoye specifically said that the law clearly states that a presidential candidate, must nominate an associate to run with.

In the words of Okoye; “As far as the Independent National Electoral Commission is concerned, the presidential candidates have submitted their associates to run with them in the presidential election.

“As far as we are concerned, there’s no form submitted by the presidential candidate where they said ‘we’re submitting this person’s name as a place or space holder’.

“The issue of space or place holder is a unique Nigerian invention that has no place in our constitutional and legal framework.

“For there to be a substitution of candidate, the Vice presidential candidate must write to INEC, with a sworn affidavit stating that he is withdrawing from the race within the time frame provided by the law. That is the only way there can be a substitution of candidates,” he explained.

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar appeared for now to be the only presidential candidate to beat the deadline as he validly submitted the name of his substantive running mate, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State to the INEC while Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu of the APC and Mr. Peter Obi of Labour Party are yet to pick their substantive running mates.

While Tinubu submitted the name of Alhaji Kabiru Masari from Katsina State as his interim running mate, Peter Obi of the LP equally submitted the name of Dr. Doyin Okupe to INEC as interim vice presidential candidate.

Okupe is the Director-General of Campaign organisation for Peter Obi.