INEC extends deadline for submission of nominations for state elections to 11 August

Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has granted an extension for the submission of candidate nominations for the upcoming governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections. The deadline, initially set for August 8, has been moved to August 11, following requests from various political parties.

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The submission window which, according to the revised time table and schedule of activities for the general elections, originally scheduled to close on Saturday, August 8, has been extended to Tuesday, August 11.

Mohammed Haruna, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information Voter Education Committee, announced the extension, stating that it was in response to appeals from political parties needing additional time to complete the nomination process. The commission's revised timetable and schedule of activities for the general elections accommodate this change.

In a related notice, INEC is reminding voters who applied for replacement of lost, damaged, or defaced permanent voter cards (PVCs) that the window to print downloadable copies of their cards will close by midnight on August 9. This measure is intended to allow INEC to compile data for the final statistics of collected PVCs before the August 15 Osun governorship election.

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The extension follows growing appeals by political parties for additional time to complete the process.

The commission also addressed issues related to PVC collection in Osun State, noting extensions granted due to large crowds and difficulties at collection centers. INEC reiterated that stolen PVCs cannot be used for voting. The commission assured the people of Osun of its commitment to conducting a free, fair, credible, and inclusive governorship election.

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This, according to him, is to allow the commission to compile the data of downloaded PVCs for final statistics of the total PVCs collected ahead of the Aug. 15 Osun governorship election.