Regina Otokpa 
…says June 18 sacrosanct for guber election
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has formally released its notice of election scheduled to hold in Ekiti State this year. The Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, noted that INEC formally gave notice of the election on January 3, by pasting the notice on the commission’s office in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital. In accordance with the timetable and schedule of activities issued last year, the commission stated that its June 18, 2022 date for the conduct of governorship election in the state remains sacrosanct.
According to the schedule of activities for the election already in the public domain, the commission said party primaries would begin from January 4 and end on January 29, while campaign by political parties for the election would commence on March 20 and end on June 16. Also, the last day for withdrawal by a candidate(s)/ replacement of withdrawn candidate(s) by political parties was fixed for February 25 while publication of a final list of candidates is May 19 and the last day for the submission of names of polling agents is June 3. INEC noted: “The term of the Governor of Ekiti State will expire on October 15. Pursuant to the provision of Section 178(1) and (2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended and Section 25(7) and (8) of the Electoral Act 2010, as amended, the earliest date for the election into the office of the Governor Ekiti State shall be on the 18th day of May 2022 and the latest date for the election shall be the 15th day of September 2022.
“By virtue of the provision of Section 25(8) of the Electoral Act, election into the office of a state governor shall hold not earlier than 150 days and not later than 30 days before the expiration of the term of office of the last holder of the office. “The commission is by virtue of section 30(1) of the Electoral Act, expected to issue notice of the election not later than 90 days before the date of the election.”
