Fifteen political parties have been duly cleared to participate in the
September nineteen governorship elections in Edo State, and only the
All Progressives Congress (APC) has adopted the direct mode in
conducting its primaries.

Ekwi Ajide of our Abuja Bureau reports that the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) disclosed this at the end of its virtual
meeting in a statement made available to newsmen.

The electoral umpire said fifteen out of the eighteen registered
political parties notified the Commission of their preparedness to
contest in the Edo State governorship election and their conclusion to
conduct primaries for the purpose of nominating candidates for the
election.

According to the INEC schedule and time table for the polls, parties
are to conduct their primaries between June 2 and 27, 2020.

Parties that adopted indirect primaries include Action Alliance (AA),
African Democratic Congress (ADC), African Democratic Party (ADP), All
Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Alliance Progressives Movement
(APM) and Labour Party (LP).

Others are the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Social Democratic Party
(SDP), Young People’s Party (YPP) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).

The Commission appealed to the various parties to conduct their
primaries in full compliance with the provisions of the 1999
Constitution and the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended).

INEC asked parties to warn their members against electoral impunity as
perpetrators will be subjected to the full weight of the law and those
found guilty consequently punished.