If all goes according to plans by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, the Ekiti State governorship election will hold in June this year, while that of Osun State will be held a few months after.
The Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Mr. Kayode Idowu, who made this known in Abuja on Sunday, said that the timetable for the elections would be decided within the timeframe prescribed by law.
By the provisions of section 178 (2) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, an election to the office of governor of a state shall be held on a date not earlier than 150 days and not later than 30 days before the expiration of the term of office of the last holder of the office.
“The schedule for the elections will be announced when the commission formally decides on the timelines – certainly, within the time frame prescribed by the law relative to the expiration of respective tenure”, Idowu said.
He added that “The elections won’t be held at the same time [either] since the tenures are not expiring at the same time. The general projection is that Ekiti will be held by mid-year 2014, and Osun shortly thereafter.”
It would be recalled that after three and a half years challenging the election of Chief Segun Oni of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as governor in the April 14, 2007 governorship election of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, was on October 15, 2010 declared as the duly elected governor by the appeal court sitting in Ilorin, Kwara State.
His counterpart in Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, was sworn-in as governor on November 27, 2010, after he was declared the winner of the April 14, 2007 governorship election by the Court of Appeal sitting in Ibadan, Oyo State, thereby marking the end of Prince Olagunsoye Oyinyola’s administration as the then Governor of the state.
We are ready for the election to chase away unfriendly government