By-elections into the vacant seats in both the National Assembly and the state Houses of Assembly will take place this weekend in some states in Nigeria.
The elections are to be held in Anambra South and Edo Central Senatorial districts; Ovia South West/Ovia South East in Edo, Babura/Garki in Jigawa, Chikun/Kajuru in Kaduna, Ikenne/Sagamu/Remo North in Ogun and Ibadan North federal constituencies.
Similarly, the court-ordered re-run election in Enugu South 1 State Constituency of Anambra State and the Ghari/Tsanyawa State Constituency of Kano State will be held simultaneously with the bye-elections.
The Independent National Electoral Commission had announced Saturday, August 16 date for the exercise to fill vacant seats that arose following the resignation or death of serving members of the National and State Houses of Assembly.
In the past days, political parties across the constituencies have taken time to mobilise support for their candidates in these bye-elections.
In Ogun State, southwest of Nigeria, two front-runners in this election, Princess Adesola Elegbeji of the All Progressive Congress (APC) and Mr. Abolarinwa Oluwole of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), have been moving around the districts to campaign to the people.
The state governor, Dapo Abiodun, an APC leader, had, on several occasions, especially during the campaign rally, taken time to appeal to the electorate to vote for their candidate.
“We charged our party stalwarts, supporters, and the good people of Remo Federal Constituency to come out en masse and cast their votes for our party’s flagbearer. Doing so will ensure quality, effective, and impactful representation for the constituency at the National Assembly.
“We remain confident that with Princess Ayoola-Elegbeji as our representative, the voice of Remo Federal Constituency will be stronger, and the development of our dear constituency will be further advanced,” he said.
The APC’s candidate, Princess Elegbeji, said that the party was “ready to win with a landslide”, urging supporters to turn out en masse and defend their votes.
The opposition party, led by its National Vice Chairman for the Southwest, Kamorudeen Ajisafe and Ogun State Chairman of the party, Abayomi Tella, had equally enjoined the people of the area to rally behind their candidate in this election.
At one of the PDP’s campaign rallies for Oluwole, Mr. Tella assured members of victory and called on supporters to remain focused and mobilise voters for the PDP candidate.
“Please ignore those who defected, including that of a former state chairman, which is inconsequential. “Come out to vote for our candidate,” Tella implored.
The position became vacant following the death of Adewunmi Onanuga, who represents Ikenne, Sagamu and Remo North in the Federal House of Assembly in Abuja.
Onanuga, an APC lawmaker who was then the Deputy Chief Whip in the Federal House of Representatives, died on January 15, 2025, after a brief illness.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in the state that had cleared the PDP, APC, Labour Party (LP) and ADC to participate, says it is ready for a peaceful and transparent election.
Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said all non-sensitive materials had been delivered to the states, while sensitive materials would also be delivered as scheduled.
National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, said in a statement that election technology, including the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), had also been configured.
He reminded political parties and candidates that campaigns ended at midnight on Thursday.
Olumekun urged stakeholders, including party agents, voters, observers and the media, to strictly comply with electoral laws, regulations and guidelines.
However, tension is already high as candidates test their popularity.
The Nigerian police and other security agencies have equally appealed to the political parties and the electorate.