Three major opposition parties — the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), and a coalition involving the African Democratic Congress (ADC) are absent from Saturday’s bye-election in Kano State.
The off-season poll, organised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), is being held to fill two vacant seats in the Kano State House of Assembly representing Municipal and Ungogo constituencies, following the deaths of the former lawmakers last year.
INEC had earlier declared its readiness to conduct what it described as a free, fair and credible election.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner in Kano, Abdul Zango, assured journalists that all political parties were given equal opportunity to nominate candidates.
However, the commission’s final list showed that only nine parties were cleared to participate.
These include the All Progressives Congress (APC), Accord (A), Action Democratic Party (ADP), Action Peoples Party (APP), African Action Congress (AAC), Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Young Progressives Party (YPP), and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).
The excluded parties have accused INEC of denying them the opportunity to participate.
A faction of the NNPP, through Senator Mushud El-Jibril Doguwa, alleged that the commission unjustly disqualified its candidates despite submissions for both constituencies.
He said the party was consulting its lawyers and considering legal action.
Similarly, the Kano State Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Yusuf Kibiya, accused INEC of breaching provisions of the Electoral Act by giving the party only four days to conduct primaries and submit candidates’ names.
