THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), will on Saturday, August 16, hold bye-elections across 16 constituencies in 12 states, filling two senatorial seats, five House of Representatives positions, and nine state assembly slots.
The polls follow vacancies caused by resignations, deaths, and court-ordered reruns.
The INEC, on Thursday, August 14, announced that all sensitive materials for the elections had been delivered to state offices, with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) fully configured.
It also noted that recruitment and training of ad hoc staff, as well as logistics arrangements, had been concluded, adding that the final batch of sensitive materials was delivered on Thursday.
The elections will take place in Anambra, Edo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Ogun, Adamawa, Kogi, Niger, Taraba, Zamfara, and Oyo states.
The commission warned stakeholders to adhere strictly to electoral laws and guidelines to ensure a smooth process.
Meanwhile, as Nigerians prepare to cast their votes, a wave of political tension surrounds the polls.
Obi endorses ADC, cites internal crisis
The Labour Party presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, on Thursday, urged his supporters, popularly known as the “Obidient Movement”, to back the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the bye-elections, claiming the Labour Party had no recognised candidates due to internal disputes.
“Kindly note that because the Labour Party has no recognised candidates by INEC due to the internal crisis, I humbly urge every member of Obidient and COPDEM families to go out and vote for the coalition political party, African Democratic Congress (ADC), in their respective states,” he said.
The endorsement came amid a protracted leadership crisis in the Labour Party.
The Anambra LP chapter had lauded INEC for excluding candidates produced by the Julius Abure-led faction from the state’s bye-elections.
The move sparked a protest to INEC headquarters in Abuja on August 6.
In Oyo, the LP state chairman Sadiq Atayese disclosed to the News Agency of Nigeria that the party’s candidate for Ibadan North Federal Constituency had also been omitted from the list.
LP accuses Obi of sabotage
Reacting, the Abure-led LP faction has accused Obi of attempting to undermine the party, alleging that he fuelled the crisis he now claims.
The party insisted it had candidates cleared to contest in the polls and called on members to ignore Obi’s directive.
“Nigerians should not forget in a hurry that it was Peter Obi that created the crisis in the Labour Party which he is now citing as a reason why people should not vote for the party. Peter Obi and Alex Otti the Governor of Abia State hosted the ill-fated and illegal expanded stakeholders meeting in Umuahia, September 4, 2024.
“He has also co-funded the crisis all these while and went as far as leading a protest match to INEC headquarters against his own party. His desperation to control the soul of the party has made him go haywire,” the party said in a statement.
It also accused INEC of bias and threatened to seek nullification of the elections if its candidates or logo were excluded from the ballot.
The crisis deepened in July when the party’s National Executive Committee, chaired by Abia State Governor Alex Otti, appointed Nenadi Usman as Interim National Chairman and Darlington Nwokocha as Interim National Secretary.
The NEC also approved a timetable for ward, local government, state, and zonal congresses.
But Kennedy Ahanotu, the National Youth Leader and prominent member of the Abure-led faction, dismissed the move as ‘unconstitutional.’
He insisted that Abure remained the legitimate national chairman, citing provisions of the Labour Party’s constitution and the Electoral Act.
ADC-SDP coalition alleges APC sabotage in Kaduna
In Kaduna, the ADC and Social Democratic Party (SDP) accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of plotting to “sabotage the bye-elections, distort the process, and steal the elections” through thuggery, vote-buying, and other tactics.
The allegation was contained in a statement signed by the ADC National Vice-Chairman (North-West) Jafaru Ibrahim Sani, ADC Kaduna Chairman Patrick Ambut, and SDP Kaduna Chairman Nasiru Maikano.
However, the state government through its Commissioner for Information, Ahmed Maiyaki, dismissed the allegations, describing them as ‘lies’.
“We will not sit idly by while political opportunists smear the name of our administration and malign innocent officials with wild, unsubstantiated claims,” Maiyaki said.
NSCDC, Police beef up security
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) said it had deployed 20,850 personnel to secure polling stations and election materials and to ensure peace during the voting process.
In a statement on Friday in Abuja, the NSCDC Public Relations Officer, Babatunde Afolabi, assured the public of the Corps’ readiness to protect election materials, safeguard officials, and monitor the entire electoral process in collaboration with the Nigeria Police Force, the lead agency for election security operations.
Also, some police commands in affected states have reaffirmed their commitment to safeguarding the integrity of the electoral process.
Mustapha Usman is an investigative journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: musman@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M