TWO National Assembly (NASS) elections suspended by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on February 25 will hold alongside the March 18 governorship and state assembly polls.
INEC said the NASS elections to hold in Edo and Enugu states are not supplementary polls as reported by some media platforms.
The Commission made the clarification in a statement issued by its National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, in Abuja on Friday, March 17.
He said, “The Commission has not scheduled the conduct of supplementary elections arising from the February 25th Presidential and National Assembly elections.
“For clarity, the supplementary elections will take place on a date to be announced by the commission immediately after the governorship and state assembly elections.”
Explaining further, Okoye said “first is the Enugu East Senatorial District election which was countermanded to allow the Labour Party conduct a fresh primary election to replace its deceased candidate in line with the provision of Section 34(1) of the Electoral Act 2022.
“The second is the Esan Central/Esan West/Igueben Federal Constituency of Edo State following issues with the ballot paper for the election.
“These are not supplementary but main elections that could not be held earlier.”
The electoral umpire, therefore, urged the public to disregard any report insinuating the conduct of supplementary elections alongside the Saturday state elections.
Sinafi Omanga is a multimedia journalist and researcher with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting. He has a keen interest in humanitarian reporting, social justice, and environment.
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