With just 11 days to Ekiti’s June 20 governorship election, the Independent National Electoral Commission has met with chairmen and secretaries of political parties to finalize preparations.
INEC Chairman Joash Amupitan led the Tuesday consultative session in Abuja, where he defended the commission’s decision to appeal two conflicting Federal High Court rulings from May 2026. One judgment in Youth Party v.
INEC questioned timelines in INEC’s timetable, while another in SDP v. INEC affirmed INEC’s power to set the election schedule but struck down deadlines for candidate nomination and substitution.
Amupitan called the rulings inconsistent and said INEC needs clear appellate guidance, noting that activities like verifying party membership registers, monitoring primaries, uploading results, printing ballots, configuring BVAS machines, and complying with Section 42 of the Electoral Act 2026 are interlinked and require set timelines.
He assured the public that despite the pending appeals, INEC remains committed to conducting the 2027 elections in strict compliance with the Constitution and Electoral Act, stressing that all electoral activities must be harmonized within a coherent framework to guarantee certainty, transparency, and equal treatment of all parties.
