Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has fixed January 25, 2020 as date for the conduct of all the 28 outstanding court-ordered rerun elections, distributed across 12 States of the federation.
The statement signed by National Commissioner and chairman Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, after the commission’s 51st regular meeting in Abuja, said that it will release further details to the conduct of the poll on its website in due course.
The commission in the statement however reassures Nigerians that it is doing everything within its control to ensure that elections in the country are free, fair and credible.
It further noted that arising from the 2019 general election, a total number of 807 post-election petitions were filed at various tribunals, explaining that out of the figure, 582 were dismissed, while 183 were withdrawn by the petitioners.
“At its 51st regular meeting held today December 5, 2019, INEC discussed rerun elections arising from petitions following the 2019 general election. There are, so far, 30 such court-ordered rerun and supplementary rerun elections.
“Two of these namely, the rerun election for the Ajaokuta Federal Constituency and the supplementary rerun election for the Kogi West Senatorial District were conducted on November 30, 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, January 25, 2020. Further details of various activities and timelines will be published later.
“It is important to note that arising from the 2019 general election, a -total of 807 post-election petitions were filed at various tribunals. Out of this figure, 582 were dismissed, while 183 were withdrawn by the
petitioners. Out of the remaining 42, the tribunals ordered reruns in 30 and issuance of certificates of return in 12 cases,” the statement read.
The Commission however reiterated that; “It 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,” it further pleaded in the statement.