THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it will comply with court orders on the state governorship election as stipulated in Section 287 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Two separate court judgements yesterday asked the electoral umpire to recognise Ugochukwu Uba and Prof Chukwuma Soludo as the candidates of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) respectively.
Both were omitted from the initial list of candidates published by INEC on Friday.
But in reaction, yesterday, Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee of INEC, Festus Okoye, said the commission will not take decision based on newspaper reports unless it has received the certified true copies of the court orders.
“We don’t base our decisions in the commission on newspaper reports or unverified news sources. Our decisions are based on certified true copies of order or judgments,” he said.
“So, when we are served with the certified true copies of the judgments, then we will look at it based on what informed our previous decisions and then we look at the court orders and see what specifically the court wants us to do. But we are not a court of law.
“Under Section 287 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, we have an obligation to give effect to and comply with the decisions of courts of competent jurisdiction.
“But we won’t take any action or take any decision until we have been served with a certified true copies of the court order. When that is done, we will follow our processes and procedures and then we will make our decisions public”, he said.
