INEC announces Governorship election dates for Ekiti and Osun State

INEC announces Governorship election dates for Ekiti and Osun State. It was announced by the INEC chairman yesterday the 16th of June 2021 in Abuja.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has revealed the dates to conduct the governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun States.

Professor Mahmood Yakubu,  the INEC Chairman, made the announcement on Wednesday, 16th June, 2021 at the meeting of the commission that took place at the  headquarters in Abuja, the country’s capital.

The INEC Chairman said:

“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.

Professor Yakubu further 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. So too are those of the FCT Area Council election holding on February 12, 2022.”

He also stated in the meeting that the detailed Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the two governorship elections have been uploaded on the official website and official social media platforms of the electoral moderator.

The INEC boss, therefore, urged the political parties and aspirants to ensure stress-free primaries and carry out peaceful electioneering campaigns.

In addition to that, he explained that the history of creating and expanding polling units in Nigeria has been time consuming and complicated, noting that their adequacy and accessibility, in terms of number and location across Nigeria, were some of the challenges that had to be dealt with to ensure credible elections takes place.

Based on that context, Professor Yakubu said INEC has transformed the existing voting points and voting point settlements in various parts of the country to polling units.

In light of the recent development, he revealed a total of 56,872 new polling units, saying Nigeria now has 176,846 fully equipped polling units.

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

He announced that the commission has moved many polling units from inappropriate places to public buildings that will be more accessible to  voters, polling agents, observers, and the media while the elections are ongoing.

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