The Independent National Electoral Commission INEC says it is a regulatory agency and not an advisory body.
INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, stated this at a workshop for Journalists ahead of November 16th governorship election in Kogi today in Lokoja.
Okoye said the commission was only vested with exclusive responsibility of organising, conducting and supervising election, stressing that INEC in its mandate was a regulatory rather than advisory agency.
He said that insinuations by some disqualified parties and candidates that the commission ought to have scrutinised their nomination forms and offer advice instead of outright disqualification were misplaced.
The INEC Commissioner noted that parties were expected to ensure due diligence and quality control in their primaries and nominations, saying that the commission only had responsibility of enforcing provisions of the Constitution and sanctioning non-compliance.
He said parties must get their legal advisers and party organs to vet documents before submitting them to the commission, saying INEC lacked powers to waive Constitutional provisions.
