Three leading opposition parties are not participating in Saturday’s bye-election being conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Kano State.
The parties missing from the ballot include the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), and a coalition linked to the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Despite their absence, INEC has affirmed its preparedness to conduct what it describes as a free, fair, and credible bye-election in the Municipal and Ungogo state constituencies.
The off-cycle election is taking place to fill two vacant seats in the Kano State House of Assembly following the deaths of the former lawmakers last year.
At a recent media briefing, Kano’s Resident Electoral Commissioner, Abdul Zango, had assured journalists that all political parties would be taking part in the exercise.
“All political parties were given equal opportunity to nominate candidates. The commission is fully prepared to conduct a transparent and credible election,” Zango had said.
However, the final list of candidates released by the commission showed that only nine political parties were cleared to contest, excluding the PDP, NNPP, and ADC.
According to INEC, the parties participating in the by-election include Accord (A), Action Democratic Party (ADP), Action Peoples Party (APP), African Action Congress (AAC), All Progressives Congress (APC), Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Young Progressives Party (YPP), and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).
While the commission has yet to publicly explain the absence of the major opposition parties, the affected parties have accused INEC of deliberately denying them the opportunity to exercise their constitutional rights.
The NNPP, which is factionalised into three groups in Kano, reportedly submitted six different candidates for the two constituencies.
Reacting to the development, the Boniface-led faction of the NNPP, through Senator Mushud El-Jibril Doguwa, accused INEC of unjustly disqualifying its candidates.
“We duly submitted our candidates for the Municipal and Ungogo constituencies, but INEC refused to recognise our party for reasons best known to them,” Doguwa said.
He further stated, “This is an obvious move to exclude us from the democratic process, and we will not tolerate it. We are consulting our legal team and will take INEC to court.”
Attempts to contact both the Kwankwasiyya and Abdullahi Abiya-led factions of the NNPP were unsuccessful, as neither chairman was reachable by phone at the time of filing this report.
Similarly, the Kano State Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Yusuf Kibiya, accused the electoral commission of breaching provisions of the Electoral Act.
“We were fully prepared to take part in the by-election,” Kibiya said. “But INEC provided only four days for us to conduct our primaries and submit candidates’ names. That timeframe is inadequate and contrary to the spirit of the law.”
He described the development as “a serious setback for democracy” and noted that the party would consider its next steps.