The Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) has asked that Capt Idris Wada should to be sworn in immediately as Governor of Kogi State.
In its first official reaction to last Friday’s Supreme Court Ruling, which nullified the mandate of the governors of five states, including, Kogi, the Commission, in a statement signed by Mr. Kayode Idowu, Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Prof Attahiru Jega, said after studying the Supreme Court judgment and consulting with its legal team, “decided that the Kogi State Governorship election, which took place on December 3rd, 2011, is a concluded election and therefore, the Governor-elect should be sworn in immediately.”
INEC’s statement thus lays to rest the controversy which trailed the Supreme Court judgment but which was silent on Kogi State, which led to both Wada and the Speaker of the state House of Assembly being sworn in in the wake of the ruling.
However, since only the Kogi State election had been concluded before the Supreme Court judgment, INEC went on to fix the following dates for elections into the four other states affected by the ruling:
Adamawa – Saturday, February 4, 2012
Bayelsa – Saturday, February 11th, 2012
Sokoto – Saturday, February 18th, 2012
Cross River – Saturday, February 25th, 2012
INEC went on to say that these dates were chosen “after due consideration of the logistics, operational and administrative requirements to ensure free, fair and credible elections’.
The Commission also insisted that only candidates that emerged after the Court of Appeal judgement of Friday, April 15th, 2011 are “the recognised candidates for the elections.”
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