Denies approaching Supreme Court
WITH the official release of a timetable for the conduct of gubernatorial elections in five states, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has finally rejected media reports of its intention to approach the Supreme Court in respect of two previous judicial pronouncements on the tenure of the affected governors.
Going by the timetable of elections released yesterday by the commission, the governorship elections will be held in Kogi State on December 3, 2011; Adamawa State, January 14, 2012; Bayelsa State, February 11, 2012; Sokoto State, March 10, 2012; Cross River State, April 14, 2012; and Edo State, July 14, 2012.
Announcing the release of the timetable, the National Commissioner in charge of Publicity, Prince Solomon Adedeji Soyebi said the commission never instructed any lawyer to go to Supreme Court on its behalf. According to him, the decision was taken out of the consideration for the fact that the Appeal Court judgment came when it was very close to elections, which made the appeal an unattractive option.
He stated: “We never in the first place appealed. When we got the injunction, we considered appealing, but as a commission, a decision was never taken about appealing the judgment. You are aware that when the Appeal Court pronouncement came, it was very close to the general elections, and there was no time for us to go on appeal, and since we did not want to disobey any court order, we agreed to step down appealing since there was no time for us to appeal, so the question of abandoning the appeal should not have arisen.”
Soyebi said the release of the timetable was in “compliance with Section 178 (2) of the Constitution of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) which provides that ‘an election to the office of the governor of a state shall be held not earlier than 150 days and not later than 30 days before the expiration of terms of office of the last holder of the office’.
“The Commission will accordingly conduct governorship elections in Kogi, Adamawa, Bayelsa, Sokoto, Cross River and Edo states in 2012, while the governorship elections will hold in Ondo and Ekiti states in 2013; the elections will hold in Anambra and Osun states in 2014.”
He explained that the commission had decided to stagger the polls for effective planning and utilisation of personnel, while re-affirming that the commission would continue to use members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) as ad-hoc staff and would supplement the number with staff from Federal Government agencies where necessary.
The breakdown of the activities leading to the elections shows that the collection of forms for elections by political parties for all the elections from INEC Headquarters will be held on September 15, 2011; last date for conduct of party primaries including resolution of disputes arising from the primaries shall hold as follows: Kogi, September 22; Adamawa, November 3; Bayelsa, December 1 and Sokoto, December 29, 2011. Cross River, February 7, and Edo, May 8, 2012.
Start of campaign by political parties shall be as follows: September 27, 2011 for Kogi, November 8, 2011 for Adamawa; December 6, 2011 for Bayelsa; January 3, 2012 for Sokoto; January 15, 2012 for Cross River and April 13, 2012 for Edo.
The last day for the submission of Forms CF001 and CF002 at INEC Headquarters for the states are as follows: October 2, 2011 for Kogi; November 13, 2011 for Adamawa; December 11, 2011 for Bayelsa; January 8, 2012 for Sokoto; February 13, 2012 for Cross River and May 14, 2012 for Edo.
Publication of personal particulars of candidates (CF001) for the states are as follows: October 18, 2011 for Kogi; November 20, 2011 for Adamawa; December 18, 2011 for Bayelsa; January 15, 2012 for Sokoto; February 28, 2012 for Cross River and May 29, 2012 for Edo.
WITH the official release of a timetable for the conduct of gubernatorial elections in five states, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has finally rejected media reports of its intention to approach the Supreme Court in respect of two previous judicial pronouncements on the tenure of the affected governors.
Going by the timetable of elections released yesterday by the commission, the governorship elections will be held in Kogi State on December 3, 2011; Adamawa State, January 14, 2012; Bayelsa State, February 11, 2012; Sokoto State, March 10, 2012; Cross River State, April 14, 2012; and Edo State, July 14, 2012.
Announcing the release of the timetable, the National Commissioner in charge of Publicity, Prince Solomon Adedeji Soyebi said the commission never instructed any lawyer to go to Supreme Court on its behalf. According to him, the decision was taken out of the consideration for the fact that the Appeal Court judgment came when it was very close to elections, which made the appeal an unattractive option.
He stated: “We never in the first place appealed. When we got the injunction, we considered appealing, but as a commission, a decision was never taken about appealing the judgment. You are aware that when the Appeal Court pronouncement came, it was very close to the general elections, and there was no time for us to go on appeal, and since we did not want to disobey any court order, we agreed to step down appealing since there was no time for us to appeal, so the question of abandoning the appeal should not have arisen.”
Soyebi said the release of the timetable was in “compliance with Section 178 (2) of the Constitution of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) which provides that ‘an election to the office of the governor of a state shall be held not earlier than 150 days and not later than 30 days before the expiration of terms of office of the last holder of the office’.
“The Commission will accordingly conduct governorship elections in Kogi, Adamawa, Bayelsa, Sokoto, Cross River and Edo states in 2012, while the governorship elections will hold in Ondo and Ekiti states in 2013; the elections will hold in Anambra and Osun states in 2014.”
He explained that the commission had decided to stagger the polls for effective planning and utilisation of personnel, while re-affirming that the commission would continue to use members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) as ad-hoc staff and would supplement the number with staff from Federal Government agencies where necessary.
The breakdown of the activities leading to the elections shows that the collection of forms for elections by political parties for all the elections from INEC Headquarters will be held on September 15, 2011; last date for conduct of party primaries including resolution of disputes arising from the primaries shall hold as follows: Kogi, September 22; Adamawa, November 3; Bayelsa, December 1 and Sokoto, December 29, 2011. Cross River, February 7, and Edo, May 8, 2012.
Start of campaign by political parties shall be as follows: September 27, 2011 for Kogi, November 8, 2011 for Adamawa; December 6, 2011 for Bayelsa; January 3, 2012 for Sokoto; January 15, 2012 for Cross River and April 13, 2012 for Edo.
The last day for the submission of Forms CF001 and CF002 at INEC Headquarters for the states are as follows: October 2, 2011 for Kogi; November 13, 2011 for Adamawa; December 11, 2011 for Bayelsa; January 8, 2012 for Sokoto; February 13, 2012 for Cross River and May 14, 2012 for Edo.
Publication of personal particulars of candidates (CF001) for the states are as follows: October 18, 2011 for Kogi; November 20, 2011 for Adamawa; December 18, 2011 for Bayelsa; January 15, 2012 for Sokoto; February 28, 2012 for Cross River and May 29, 2012 for Edo.
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