The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has commenced the crucial task of conducting status verification of political parties in the country.
The constitutional responsibility is of utmost importance to ensure the integrity and transparency of the nation’s democratic process.
As part of the process, INEC’s Election and Party Monitoring Team, led by Director Hajia Hawa Habibu, recently visited the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Abdullahi Ganduje.
The purpose of the visit was not only to carry out the annual verification of the party’s status but also the audited account.
Habibu said:
“It is a constitutional mandate of the commission, basically, we are supposed to find out and issue notices where political parties are not in compliance with the constitutional provisions.
“As to the number, structures of the party in terms of office in Abuja, auditing of their finances and other issues.
“The team will go round to verify the offices with our forms to give us the structure of the party as to whether the Electoral Act provision of minimum of 24 members of different states of the federation and the FCT has been compiled with.
“The last time we had this verification was in 2019 and there was COVID-19 in 2020, we had many activities in 2021 and 2022.
“And it has become pertinent that we have to do so now to verify political parties to ensure that the compliance status is in order. These are basically our assignments.”
