The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced June 17 as the deadline for the submission of lists of presidential candidates and their running mates by the 18 political parties in the country.

The commission warned that the dedicated portal for the submission of lists of candidates for the 2023 general elections would automatically shut down at 6:00 p.m. on that day.

The INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed this at a meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners on Thursday in Abuja.

Yakubu stressed that only the names of candidates that emerged from democratic primaries as stipulated in Section 84 of the Electoral Act 2022 would be submitted to the commission.

He said: “All primaries end today, Thursday, June 9, 2022. For the next one week from tomorrow, June 10, 2022, all political parties are required to submit their list of candidates for national elections (Presidential/Vice Presidential, Senatorial and House of Representatives) latest by Friday, June 17, 2022.”

However, the commission fixed July 15 as deadline for submission of lists of governorship and House of Assembly candidates.

The chairman added: “For state elections -(Governorship/Deputy Governorship and State Houses of Assembly), the list of candidates shall be uploaded from July 1 to 15, 2022 as already provided in the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2023 General Election already released by the Commission.

“All political parties are required to upload the details of their candidates for each constituency to the INEC Candidate Nomination Portal (ICNP). To achieve this objective, four officials recommended by each of the 18 political parties were trained on the procedure for uploading the nomination forms to the dedicated web portal.

“Confidential Access Codes to the portal have already been given to each Political Party to facilitate the uploading of its nominations.”

“For emphasis, the Commission wishes to remind Political Parties that only the names of candidates that emerged from democratic primaries as provided by Sec. 84 of the Electoral Act 2022 shall be submitted to the Commission. Similarly, the list of all Presidential and Governorship candidates must be accompanied by the names of their running mates (i.e. Vice Presidential and Deputy Governorship candidates) without which the nomination is invalid.

“All nominations must be uploaded to the portal on/or before the deadlines. The portal will automatically shut down at 6.00pm (1800hrs) on Friday 17th June 2022 for national elections and 6.00pm (1800hrs) on Friday 15th July 2022 for State elections. With this innovation, the Commission has eliminated the physical interface between party officials and INEC staff for the purpose of submitting the list of candidates for the 2023 General Election.

“A Nomination Centre has been set up here at the Commission’s Headquarters to receive and process all nominations by political parties, including dedicated telephone lines to serve as Help Desk for any Party that may need assistance. In our avowed commitment to openness and transparency of the process, the media will be invited to the Nomination Center so that Nigerians will see our level of preparedness for the exercise.”