Forty-three parties had submitted the names of their candidates to INEC, as the official list for the general elections holding in April across the nation is being awaited.
Some PDP candidates, who emerged from the controversial primaries of the party, are worried that some of their rivals who lost out in the primaries, but had been contending with them for the tickets, may smuggle their names into the INEC list.
Investigations on Friday in Abuja showed that the winners of the primaries in the party have been making frantic efforts to confirm from their contacts in the electoral commission if their names were forwarded to the commission or not.
Their contention is that going to sleep after being returned by the parties as winners of the primaries could be costly. They said that being declared winners by the party did not give automatic qualification to them to run under the umbrella of the party. They are of the view that the electoral law had made it impossible for further steps to be taken after INEC had accepted the list presented to them. The prevalent fear among the candidates is that it is not enough to win the primaries as their names may be missing in the INEC list.
Such people are of the view that the electoral law has made it impossible for further changes to be made on the final list of INEC except by substitution.
In a telephone interview on Thursday, the Chief Press Secretary to Prof. Attahiru Jega, the chairman of INEC, Mr. Kayode Idowu, said that INEC would only accept candidates that came out of primaries that were conducted in consonance with the guidelines laid down by law.
He said that the commission would adhere strictly to the provision of the law for the substitution of candidates for the elections.
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