Re-run, Bye-elections: Tension as parties, candidates battle for 57 legislative seats

AFTER months of preparation, the stage is set for today’s re-run and bye-elections to fill 48 legislative seats across 26 states of the country.

There were little or no campaigns for today’s elections, which were rounded off on Thursday.

Amid tension in some of the constituencies that are usually volatile during elections, the Department of State Services, DSS, has warned Nigerians taking part in the elections to be of good conduct during and after the exercises in the affected states.

The Service asked the contending parties to shun all acts capable of causing a breakdown of law and order.

At the same time, the DSS urged politicians and their supporters to adhere to the electoral act and procedure. Also, the Inspector General of Police, IGP Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun, had on Thursday ordered the restriction of all forms of vehicular movement on roads, waterways, and other forms of transportation from 12 a.m. to 6 p.m today in all states where elections will be conducted.

The only exception are those on essential services such as the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, officials, electoral observers, accredited media and observers both foreign and domestic, ambulances responding to medical emergencies, and firefighters among others.

The affected states are Ebonyi, Yobe, Kebbi, Lagos, Ondo, Taraba, Benue, Borno, Kaduna, Plateau, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Cross River, Delta, Enugu, Jigawa, Katsina, Adamawa, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Kano, Nasarawa, Niger, Oyo, Sokoto, and Zamfara.

The INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, has however assured of credible exercises and tasked all stakeholders on support to ensure violence-free polls.

Giving the breakdown for the elections, Yakubu said that two Senators, four members of the House of Representatives and three members of State Assemblies will be elected in bye-elections to replace members who passed on or resigned their memberships of National and States Assembly in nine states.

Immediate past Governor of Ebonyi State, and Works Minister, Engr David Umahi; and Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu and immediate past Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, are among lawmakers who resigned. Umahi was elected as senator but he left the post to take up appointment as minister.

Also Gbajabiamila was re-elected into his Surulere Constituency, Lagos but he opted for an executive appointment.

Yakubu said the re-run elections will take place at designated constituencies or polling units as ordered by the Election Appeal Tribunals.

He said: “The elections will fill vacancies in three Senatorial Districts, 17 Federal and 28 State Constituencies spread across 80 Local Government Areas, 575 Registration Areas/Wards and 8,934 Polling Units involving 4,904,627 registered voters, out of which 4,613,291 Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) have been collected.”

Professor Yakubu acknowledged that the Commission could not handle such a huge national assignment alone and “that is why we seek to mobilise every national asset.”