The Independent National Electoral Commission will on Saturday conduct re-run and bye-elections into some national and state legislative seats across 26 states of the federation.
The elections, which will be held in 80 local government areas across Nigeria, are to fill vacancies created by the resignation, death and removal of lawmakers through post-election litigation.
INEC chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, said the bye-elections will be conducted in nine out of the 26 states to elect two senators, four members of the House of Representatives and three members of State Houses of Assembly.
“In other states, re-run elections will take place at designated constituencies or polling units as ordered by the election appeal tribunals.
“In all the elections will fill vacancies in three senatorial districts, 17 Federal and 28 state constituencies spread across 80 local government areas, 575 registration areas/wards and 8,934 polling units involving 4,904,627 registered voters out of which 4,613,291 Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) have been collected,” he said.
Some notable vacant seats to be filled are those of Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, Sen. David Umahi, Sen. Ibrahim Geidam, Hon. Bumi Tunji-ojo, and Hon. Tanko Sununu who resigned to take up appointments as chief of staff to the president and ministers respectively. Then there is Hon. Isma’ila Maihanchi, a member-elect from Taraba who died before inauguration, and Hon. Abdulkadir Danbuga from Sokoto who died in October 2023.
INEC had indicated its readiness for the exercise with the chairman disclosing that the commission, in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), had delivered materials to the affected locations.
The INEC chairman was at the office of the chief of the air staff, Air Marshal Hassan Abubakar, at the Nigerian Air Force Headquarters in Abuja early in the week where he got assurance on logistics support.
Air Marshal Abubakar assured INEC that the Nigerian Air Force remains willing, able and ready to continue to support the commission as it had always done in the past.
