INEC undecided over order of Polls

Following a series of litigations, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, may be forced to return to the drawing board concerning the order of the polls.

In spite of a Federal High Court ruling asking the commission to discard its current order of elections, the INEC said yesterday that it was yet to take a decision on the issue because it had not received the verdict.

An Abuja Federal High Court on Thursday nullified the National Assembly’s amendment of the 2010 Electoral Act, which put the presidential election before the governorship polls.

Justice Ibrahim Auta ruled in a suit filed by the Labour Party, LP, that the amended Section 25 of the Act was “illegal, unconstitutional, null and void.”

Auta declared that the National Assembly had no power to infringe upon the powers conferred on the INEC to fix election dates and granted an order nullifying the purported amendment of Section 25 of the Electoral Act.

According to the INEC timetable, the National Assembly will hold on April 2, Presidential (April 9) and governorship/State House of Assembly (April 16).

Speaking on the judgment yesterday, Mr. Kayode Idowu, Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, dismissed as false reports that the commission had altered the election timetable.

“We have not received the judgment. The judgment was delivered on Thursday. As of today, Sunday, we have not got the judgment. Until we get the judgment, we cannot change the order of elections because we have to study the judgment before taking any action,” Idowu said over the phone.