The Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), has fixed the next Anambra State Governorship election for November 8, 2025.
The INEC chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu announced this at the fourth regular quarterly consultative meetings with political parties at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja on Thursday.
Yakubu said the date was chosen in compliance with Section 28(1) of the Electoral Act 2022 which required INEC to issue the notice for elections not later than 360 days before the date of the election.
“As you are aware, the last governorship election in Anambra state was held on 6th November 2021. By the effluxion of time, the governorship election is due next year. Consequently, the Commission has approved that the 2025 Anambra State Governorship election will hold on Saturday 8th November 2025.
“In compliance with the mandatory requirement of 360 days, the formal notice for the election will be published on 13th November 2024. Party primaries will be held from 20th March 2025 to 10th April 2025.
“The candidate nomination portal will open at 9.00am on 18th April 2025 and close at 6.00pm on 12th May 2025. The final list of candidates will be published on 9th June 2025. Campaign in public by political parties will commence on 11th June 2025 and end at midnight of Thursday 6th November 2025.
“Voting will take place in all the 5,720 Polling Units across the State on Saturday 8th November 2025. In the coming weeks, the Commission will provide details of other electoral activities, including the registration of new voters, transfer of voters and the replacement of lost or damaged PVCs.
The chairman noted that the detailed timetable and schedule of activities for the 2025 Anambra State governorship election would be uploaded on its website and social media platforms.
Yakubu, therefore, urged political parties to use the INEC timetable to come up with their own timetable and schedule of activities to enable them work together and plan better for the deployment of personnel and resources for the monitoring of party primaries and campaign activities.
He said by doing so, they would avoid the last minute rush with the attendant inability to meet deadlines.
Also, Chairman of Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Yusuf Dantalle, reiterated its demand for the scrapping of the State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs), saying the sham called elections they conduct are deliberate assault on the nation’s democracy.
He said the council would not fold its hand and allow this glaring perversion of the democratic process to continue.
Dantalle said: “It is not just a coronation of the candidates of a ruling party in the state, it is daylight robbery of people’s votes and mandates for chairmanship and councillorship positions.
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“In place of SIECs, council proposes that INEC should conduct all local government elections in Nigeria as it does for federal and state elections. There is no need to create another body to conduct local government polls.
“The National Assembly should not dissipate energy and resources in establishing any local government electoral commission, instead it should strengthen INEC to conduct all elections in the country. The commission’s elections may not be perfect; they are far better and credible than the charades showcased by SIECs acting as rubber stamps of the governors who appointed them.”
Dantalle stated that it was time they stopped using the judiciary to make a mockery of the hard-earned democracy.
He added that the issuance of orders and counter orders, judgments and conflicting judgments by courts of coordinate jurisdiction are appalling, saying it “as if justice is for sale”.
“Enough of these provocative judicial somersaults that have made a mockery of our emerging democracy. This is also a wake-up call for urgent judicial reform that will sanction and flush out corrupt judicial officers and restore the court as the Temple of Justice and the last hope of all aggrieved people,” Dantalle said.
