INEC fixes October 26 for Katsina bye-election

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed Saturday October 26 for the conduct of the bye-election for Sabwa Constituency of Katsina State, which became vacant as a result of the death of the incumbent, Mustapha Abdullahi, who died on July 5 through road accident

The Resident Electoral Commissioner for Katsina State, Alhaji Jibrin Zarewa, who made the above disclosure on Wednesday in Katsina said the decision to conduct the bye election on this date as agreed by the stakeholders at the meeting, was as a result of the declaration of the vacancy by the State House of Assembly through a letter addressed to the commission dated September 26

He said: ’’The purpose of this meeting is to inform you of the vacancy and position of the law with regards to elections and filling vacancies thereto. Even though a lot of activities are involved spanning from those of INEC, the political parties, Security agencies, and other relevant agencies, we are bound to respect the position of the law’’

The INEC boss further disclosed that the constituency has 10 registration areas, 74 polling units and 61 voting points, making up a total of 125 voting centers with a voting population of 63,435 registered voters.

Read Also: Independent National Electoral Commission and 2019 elections

He further disclosed that the commission will source the 512 required numbers of electoral personnel from the NYSC and Tertiary institutions from the state

He assured that the distribution of sensitive materials through to the conduct of the election proper shall remain open and transparent to the satisfaction of all stakeholders

In a related development, the REC has declared that only 8 Political Parties are existent with functional offices in the state, adding that the remaining numbers only exist on paper

He said: ’’We may stop corresponding with parties that has no clearly identifiable and functional offices. When we write, we only communicate with 7 or 8 parties that we know are functional and the rest of the letters we dump them at IPAC.

‘’Imagine a political party came here to rent our vehicles to conduct rallies and ward congresses’’