INEC Reveals Date For Osun, Ekiti Governorship Elections

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced the dates when the governorship elections in Osun and Ekiti state will hold

The scheduled dates were announced by the Chairman of the Commission, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, on Wednesday at the meeting of the commission held at its headquarters in Abuja, the Nigeria Capital.

“In keeping with our policy of announcing the dates of elections in advance to enable early and effective preparations by all concerned, the Commission has approved that the Ekiti State Governorship election will hold on Saturday, June 18, 2022, while the Osun State Governorship election will hold one month later on Saturday, July 16, 2022,” he said.

Yakubu added: “Looking to the near future, the Commission is preparing to conduct the remaining off-season end of tenure elections ahead of the 2023 general elections.

“Already, activities listed in the timetable for the Anambra State Governorship election are being implemented, as are those of the FCT Area Council election held on February 12, 2022.”

The Commission disclosed that the detailed Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the two governorship elections have been uploaded on the website and social media platforms of the commission.

The INEC Boss then appealed to political parties and aspirants to ensure violence-free primaries and conduct peaceful electioneering campaigns.

Yakubu stated that the history of creating and expanding polling units in Nigeria has been long and complex, adding that adequacy and acceptability in terms of number and location across the country, were some of the challenges that had to be addressed in the interest of credible elections.

As a result, the Commission Chairman stated that the electoral agency has converted the existing voting points and voting point settlements in various parts of the country to polling units.

Thus, after the latest development, the INEC Boss unveiled a total of 56, 872 new polling units, saying Nigeria now has 176,846 full-fledged polling units.

The INEC chairman blamed the establishment of voting points and voting point settlements on the several unsuccessful attempts to create additional polling units.

He revealed that the commission has relocated many polling units from inappropriate places to public buildings accessible to voters, polling agents, observers, and the media during elections.

In January this year, the commission had announced that the Governorship election for Anambra State will be held on November 9, this year.

The announcement was made by the Chairman of INEC’s Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye.

“The commission has scheduled the Anambra Governorship poll to hold on November 6. By the timetable and schedule of activities, the commission will issue the statutory notice for election on June 9,” Okoye said.