The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has fixed October 11 for the Adamawa State Governorship election. This is in spite of a suit filed by the former deputy governor, Bala Ngilari, asking the Federal High Court in Abuja for an order to stop any election for the Governorship seat pending the determination of his case.
Ngilari had resigned on July 15 through a letter addressed to the speaker of the state House of Assembly, Umaru Fintiri, but he is asking the court for a declaration of his purported resignation as unconstitutional, null and void, as it did not follow the constitutional provision.
Section 306 (1) of the 1999 Constitution provides that any person who is appointed, elected or otherwise selected to any office established by the Constitution may resign from that office by writing and such letter must be addressed to the authority or person by whom he was appointed, elected or selected.
Ngilari failed to comply with this provision when he addressed his resignation letter to the Speaker, instead of the Governor Murtala Nyako, who was at the time still the chief executive officer of the state.
The court had however, refused to grant the application to restrain INEC from conducting a bye-election to fill the governorship seat and has fixed September 10 for hearing of the suit filed by Ngilari, who now wants to be declared Governor of Adamawa State.
The state Resident Electoral Commissioner of INEC, Kasim Gaidam, confirmed the date for the bye-election to newsmen in Yola, the state capital on Tuesday.
Gaidam said the commission had approved a timetable which shows September 7 as the date for the conduct of party primaries, including resolution of disputes arising from the primaries, while the last day for the submission of forms CFOO2, CFOO1 and nomination forms at the INEC Headquarters is on September 17.
“INEC has fixed September 23 as the last day for publication of personal particulars of candidates( CFOO1), in line with section 31 (3) of the Electoral Act 2010, as provided for publication within seven days of the receipt of the form CF001,” he said in a statement.
INEC further fixed September 29 for the submission of names of party agents for the election to the Electoral Officer of the local government in line with section 45 of the Electoral Act, 2010 as provided.
According to the timetable, October 9, is scheduled as the last day for campaigns by candidates of the political parties, in line with section 99 of the Electoral Act, 2010. This prohibits advertisements or broadcast of campaigns 24 hours prior to the day of election.
The bye-election follows the impeachment of Governor Nyako by the state House of Assembly on July 15.
The Electoral Act mandates INEC to conduct a bye-election into the office of a governor within three months of his impeachment.