INEC sets August 16 for Bye-Elections, announces voter registration resumption

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has officially fixed August 16, 2025, for the conduct of 16 constituency bye-elections across 12 states in Nigeria.

The commission revealed this during its second regular consultative meeting with political parties in Abuja on Monday.

INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed that the commission would deploy no fewer than 30,451 officials for the exercise, which will cover two senatorial districts, five federal constituencies, and nine state constituencies. He also confirmed that over 3.5 million registered voters would participate in the polls across 32 local government areas, 356 wards, and 6,987 polling units.

The commission also announced that it would resume the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) nationwide. According to Yakubu, the CVR in Anambra State would begin on July 8, 2025, and end on July 17, ahead of the state’s governorship election. The nationwide CVR exercise is expected to start with online pre-registration on August 18, followed by in-person registration at state and local government offices on August 25.

Yakubu expressed concerns over recurring complaints by opposition parties about being denied access to public facilities and media outlets for campaign activities, describing it as a violation of the Electoral Act 2022. He warned that INEC, in collaboration with the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) and the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON), would pursue legal actions against defaulters moving forward.

The INEC Chairman also confirmed that two state constituencies — Khana II in Rivers State and Talata Mafara South in Zamfara State — would not hold bye-elections at this time due to a state of emergency and pending legal disputes, respectively.

In addition to the bye-elections, two court-ordered rerun elections in Enugu South I constituency in Enugu State and Ghari/Tsanyawa constituency in Kano State will be conducted on the same August 16 date. These rerun elections, previously disrupted by violence, will now proceed under improved security assurances.

Yakubu reminded political parties of the tight deadlines for party primaries and submission of nomination forms. Primaries are to be held between July 17 and 21, while the portal for uploading nomination forms will open on July 22 and close by 6:00 pm on July 26.

Campaign activities are expected to commence by August 2, concluding at midnight on August 14.

For the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Council elections, political parties have until June 30, 2025, to conclude their primaries and upload the names of their candidates between July 21 and August 11.

Yakubu stressed that strict compliance with the outlined procedures and deadlines would help ensure credible, transparent, and law-abiding electoral processes across the country.