The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), says the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Zamfara and Rivers States will not field candidates in the forthcoming general elections.

INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed this on Thursday during a daily briefing ahead of Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly polls.

“The position of the commission remains the position we announced before now. That the parties in question by court order and/by our understanding of the interpretation of the judgments of two courts of co-ordinate jurisdictions delivered same day in the case of Zamfara cannot field candidates in the 2019 general elections for the National Assembly, Governorship and State Assembly elections,” he stated.

According to the INEC boss, the court pronouncement restraining APC from participating in the polls does not affect the presidential elections.

Yakubu explained that the Commission under his watch would always obey court orders, especially from a competent jurisdiction.

“The position of the Commission has not changed. Once Courts of law make pronouncements, all persons and authorities in the Federal Republic of Nigeria are duty bound to obey. But if the judgment is from the Supreme Court, that is the end to litigation,” he added.

The clarifications by the INEC Chairman comes two weeks after two separate courts barred the APC in Zamfara and Rivers State from participating in the general elections.

•Excerpted from a Channels TV report

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