INEC to conduct 28 rerun elections in one day

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it would conduct 28  rerun elections in one day.

The Commission National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Barrister Festus Okoye made the disclosure in a statement yesterday.

He noted that the decision was taken at the end of 51st regular meeting of the Commission.

Giving a breakdown, the  INEC Commissioner said 30 rerun elections were outstanding but only two in Kogi west and Ajaokuta Federal Constituency had been conducted.

He further revealed that the outstanding rerun elections were spread across 12 states in one senatorial district, 12 federal constituencies and 15 State assemblies.

Okoye said the elections have been fixed for January 25, 2020.

The statement read in part: ”At its 51st regular meeting held today 5th December 2019, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) discussed rerun elections arising from petitions following the 2019 general election.

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”There are, so far, 30 such court-ordered rerun and supplementary rerun elections. Two of these names, the rerun election for the Ajaokuta Federal Constituency and the supplementary rerun election for the Kogi West Senatorial District were conducted on 30th November 2019.

”Consequently. there are 28 court-ordered elections still outstanding which are distributed across 12 States of the Federation. The break down comprises one Senatorial District out of 109. 12 Federal Constituencies out of 360 and 15 State Assembly Constituencies out of 991.

”In many of the cases, elections are to be rerun in only a few polling units. The Commission will make available further details of the affected areas, including the polling units on its website in due course.

”After consideration of several issues surrounding the rerun elections, including the time needed for preparations, establishing the full details of the affected areas from court judgments as well as the intervention of the Yuletide, the Commission has decided to hold all the 28 outstanding court-ordered rerun elections on Saturday 25th January 2020. Further details of various activities and timelines will be published later.

”The Commission wishes to assure Nigerians that it is doing everything within its control to ensure that elections are free, fair and credible. We will continue to ask for the understanding, support and commitment of all stakeholders and agencies involved in elections to achieve this purpose.”