Inec reveals timetable for gubernatorial elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states due on November 2

NIGERIA'S Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) has released a timetable for the conduct of gubernatorial elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states showing that they will both go to the polls to elect their respective governors on November 2 this year.

Last month, Nigerians elected 29 of the country's 36 governors for four year tenures but inbetween now and 2023, the governors of the seven states on a different election cycle will be elected. Bayelsa and Kogi will be the first of the seven, with the time table agreed after Inec held a meeting in Abuja yesterday to finalise the schedule.

Festus Okoye, Inec's national commissioner in charge of information and voter education, said: “The commission at its meeting held on Tuesday approved the timetable and schedule of activities for the governorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsa States which will hold on Saturday November 2 2019. The stated timelines are in line with the provisions of the 1999 constitution and the Electoral Act 2010 and all stakeholders are urged to take cognisance of and adhere strictly to them."

He added that the official notice for both elections will be issued on August 1, while political parties that intend to sponsor candidates are to hold their primaries between August 2 and 29. Parties sponsoring candidates are required to submit the list of their agents not later than October 2, while campaigns by political parties in public shall commence on August 2 and end on October 31.

Mr Okoye added that would commence a post-election review in May as the meeting agreed  to conduct an extensive review and debriefing on the 2019 general elections. He said this is intended to evaluate the commission’s performance of the key activities of the elections with a view to addressing identified challenges and strengthening operational and institutional capacities to conduct free, fair, credible and peaceful elections in future.

In Bayelsa State, Governor Seriake Dickson of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will be standing down after having served for two terms but in Kogi State, Governor Yahaya Bello of the All Progressives Congress (APC) will be hoping to get re-elected. Following last month's gubernatorial elections, the APC will have 19 governors after May 29, while the PDP will have 16, although several cases are still pending before the elections tribunal.