The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has announced that the Imo, Bayelsa, and Kogi State governorship elections will hold on November 11, 2023, in a move to streamline the electoral process in those states.
The Commission made this disclosure at its weekly meeting which was held on Tuesday.
INEC National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye confirmed the development in a statement he signed on Tuesday.
Okoye revealed that the primary elections by parties has been scheduled for March 27 to April 17, 2023.
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Okoye stated that the decision is in fulfillment of the requirement of Section 28(1) of the Electoral Act 2022, mandating INEC to publish the Notice of Election not later than 360 days before the date fixed for the elections.
The electoral umpire further stated that the tenure of the incumbent Governor of Imo State ends on 14th January 2024 while those of Kogi and Bayelsa States end on 26th January 2024 and 13th February 2024 respectively.
INEC also added that the statutory Notice for the governorship elections will be published in the three States on 14th November 2022.
In a related development, Prof Attahiru Jega who is a former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), had recently called on the electoral umpire to resist pressure from politicians who oppose the deployment of the Bimodal Voter Registration System (BVAS) for the 2023 elections.
His words; ‘I think what is most important is the capacity of the election management body to resist that pressure and having recognised that using technology will add more value to the election, they should just remain focused,” said the former Vice-Chancellor of Bayero University, Kano.
He urged INEC ‘not allow the parties to stop them from using the BVAS or the electronic transmission of results since they now have a legal backing’.
There have been reports of late that politicians who are against BVAS attempt to use the court of law to stop INEC from deploying BVAS in next year’s elections but the electoral body has consistently restated its commitment and determination to deploy the system for the 2023 general elections.