Senate President, Dr. Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan Tuesday tasked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on fairness, justice, and equity which it earlier promised as political parties move into the process of primaries.

Lawan gave the charge before adjourning the upper legislative Chamber to 7th June 2022.

He said the Chamber was adjourning to enable Senators to participate actively in the processes leading to primaries, stating that all Senators are contesting for one office or the other.

In his words, Lawan said, there are three presidential aspirants contesting on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), which he prayed that one of them will emerge as a presidential candidate, while a good number of them are set to contest governorships in their States including Senators on the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He urged aspirants across the board to accept the outcome of the results, especially if the process was in line with the guidelines and the Electoral Act.

He said: “INEC has promised fairness and we are praying for INEC to achieve that fairness, equity, and justice believing that in the 2023 general election, the integrity of the exercise would not be questioned. Those who tried to contest when they win, we pray that they will be good winners, and for those that may not win, they should accept defeat because we believe that the process will be fair and square.

“The Senate will adjourn till June 7th to enable those contesting to submit their completed nomination forms. Of course, there are some of our colleagues here who are running for governorship in their various States and I know the exercise is starting immediately.

“It is very important that they participate in the process of what affects them directly and that is the State House of Assembly, governorship, and presidential.

“Consequently, we have to adjourn to enable us to participate fully in the activities because we are supposed to be active participants. So I wish all of us the best of luck.

“We are three Senators contesting the Presidential election and I pray one of us will emerge as a candidate in the ruling party. We have the deputy Senate President contesting governorship in Delta State and many others contesting governorship in their various States.

“I wish all of them the best of luck and pray they will fly their party’s flag and for the rest who are coming back to the Senate by the grace of God, we wish everybody the best of luck.

“When we come back, we pray that when we meet each other, we shall all be smiling together. I am not aware if there is anybody not contesting for anything here. It means a full engagement for all of us in the 9th Senate.

“Let me thank all of us for our commitment to our job. We resumed two weeks ago, but we have to do what is expected of all of us. As we are going, should there be a need for all of us to come back, we shall do so because this is going to be a very busy period in our political history.

“If there is a need to come back, we will do and if there’s no need, we will only return in June 2022. We wish Nigerians, especially the political class, that this time, we are able to play according to rules. That we able to see things right and do things according to guidelines.”

The Independent National Electoral Commission on Tuesday said it has no intention of extending the timeline for party primaries.

The INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said this at a consultative meeting with leaders of political parties in Abuja.

Political parties had through the Inter-Party Advisory Committee asked INEC to extend the timelines for the 2023 general elections by two months.

But Yakubu insisted the timeline for primaries remains fixed between April 4 and June 3.

He said: “Twice in the last two weeks, the Commission had cause to remind political parties of the necessity for strict compliance with the timelines for party primaries.

“I hereby reiterate the position of the Commission that there will be no review of the timelines.

“There are so many inter-related activities that are associated with the timelines which must be carried out.

“Any review to extend the timeline for one activity will affect other activities and put unnecessary pressure on political parties and the Commission.

“This will ultimately result in more complications than what the extension seeks to achieve.

“Therefore, the Commission will not review the timelines.

“Working together, we should ensure fidelity to the timelines in conducting transparent and Democratic primaries for the purpose of electing candidates for the 1,491 constituencies for which elections will be held on 25th February and 11th March 2023.”

Yakubu asked the parties to ensure their primaries make room for Women, youths, and persons with disability.

He said: “To assure citizens that you are not paying lip service to this commitment, political parties should encourage greater involvement of all under-represented segments of the society as candidates for elections.

“This is the only way we can change the reality of the increasingly low level of representation of these critical segments of the society in legislative assemblies in particular and the governance of our country in general.”