SDP Petitions INEC, Alleges Fielding Of Underaged Candidates

THE Social Democratic Party (SDP), Enugu State, has issued a month ultimatum to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to prosecute six political parties and their candidates in the state for allegedly breaching the electoral act or face court action.

   In a petition sent to the commission signed by its Enugu State Chairman, Mr. John Nwobodo, the party alleged that United Progressive Party (UPP), All Progressives Congress (APC), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Independent Democrats (ID), Peoples Action Party (PPA) and African Peoples Alliance (APA), have fielded unqualified and under-aged candidates for the various elective positions contrary to the electoral act.

    According to the party, while the electoral act has specified the age limit for each elective position, the six political parties have violated the act by fielding 18 under aged candidates for governorship, Senatorial and House of Assembly elections.

  It gave a rundown of the candidates, which according to it were part of the final list of candidates published by the commission to include governorship candidate of the UPP, Ken Onyeka Onwu whose age was published as 31 against constitutional minimum age of 35 years for the position.

  But the governorship candidate, Onwu has asked all aggrieved persons to take the case to INEC, saying, “I am very qualified to contest the office of the governor of Enugu State.”

 Onwu, who is also the state chairman of UPP, stated that he and other candidates of the party had undergone processes required to become the candidates of the party for the election.

  Others listed in the petition by SDP as under-aged candidates are two senatorial candidates of ID for Enugu West and Enugu North, Ogbonnaya Samson and Oluebube Umeokoro, whose ages were published as 30 and 32 years respectively, against constitutional 35 years.

  Others are House of Assembly candidates, Ude Eberechukwu (29), Enugu East II; Ndifon Cosmos Okey (29), Enugu North; Olom Blessing (24), Enugu South II and Onyechi Ukamaka (27), Igbo-Etiti West, all of the UPP.

   ID’s Esther Okolie (29), Awgu North; Chiejie Peter Happiness (29), Enugu South I; Ude Ogochukwu Charisa (22), Ezeagu and Nwobodo Jeremiah Onyedika (29), Nkanu West, among others.

   The petition added, “Section 31(8) of the electoral act provided that a political party which presents to INEC the name of a candidate who does not meet the required qualifications shall be guilty of an offence and on conviction shall be liable to a maximum fine of N500, 000. Section 118 (k) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) provides that a person who signs a nomination paper consenting to be a candidate at an election knowing that he is ineligible to be a candidate at that election commit an offence. 

  “By section 118(2) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), a conviction for an offence on the ground of ineligibility carries a maximum term of imprisonment for two years.”

  SDP argued that the incidents were clear cases of “playing against the extant rules and deserve to be visited according to law to serve as deterrence against willful violation of the laws of the land.”

   The party therefore gave the INEC one month to commence appropriate legal action against the political parties involved and their respective candidates, or face court action from the party at the expiration of the notice.