INEC to screen presidential candidates in Abuja

Presidential candidates of the three political parties will be screened by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the independent ‘Guardian’ newspaper said today. The Alliance for Democracy (AD) which is reportedly merging with the All People’s Party (APP) has already named Chief Olu Samuel Falae as its candidate.

However Steve Osemeke, INEC’s director of public affairs, told IRIN today that a meeting will take place on Monday to discuss the merger of the two parties, which, he said, INEC is still “unhappy” with. The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is expected to choose its candidate on 6 February at the party’s convention in Jos, Plateau State, the ‘Guardian’ reported. It added that the AD and the APP have yet to fix dates for their conventions as they are still discussing the possibility of nominating a joint candidate for the presidential election.