The Independent National Electoral Commission has said it would publish names and credentials of gubernatorial candidates contesting in the elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi States on Friday.
INEC Spokesman, Festus Okoye, made this declaration in a released statement indicating that the information will be posted at the State and Local Government Headquarters of INEC in the affected states.
The elections for the 3 states are coming up later this year.
While it is still unclear this step taken by INEC, it seems the electoral body wants to be more open and transparent about credentials sent in by politicians. Some politicians have been accused of faking their credentials so publishing it would help draw more public scrutiny of such credentials.
Some of the well known names to feature on this list would include; Duoye Diri (Bayelsa), Timipre Sylva (Bayelsa), Hope Uzodinma (Imo) and Dino Melaye (Kogi).
INEC would publish the credentials of both the aspirants and their running mates.
Recall that the last gubernatorial election in Bayelsa was plagued by allegations of certificate forgery which affected the running mate of the elected Governor David Lyon. This situation prompted the Supreme Court to remove Lyon and replace him with Senator Duoye Diri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
