Months after the coronavirus outbreak stopped the world dead in its tracks, forcing countries to cancel or postpone political activities especially elections, Nigeria seems to be getting ready to jump back on the saddle with the Nasarawa Central State Constituency by-election in Nasarawa State, scheduled to hold on August 8th. This election, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), will be used to test-run the conduct of governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states and other elections to come.
Disclosing this while paying a working visit to the Nasarawa local government in Nigeria to assess the state of preparedness for the exercise, INEC Chairman Prof. Mahmood Yakubu reiterated the importance of Saturday’s by-election to the commission because it will be the first to be conducted by INEC in the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This is a very crucial election for us. It will be the first election to be conducted in this COVID-19 pandemic. And this election will show us how to conduct Edo and Ondo elections,” Yakubu said.
He added that strict compliance with COVID-19 protocols will be the hallmark of the election, including wearing of facemasks by voters. “No face mask, no voting but there is a need for clarification on this. The commission is not insisting on a surgical face mask. Any face covering would do as the voter approaches the voting point. So yes there has to be a face covering, it doesn’t have to be a surgical mask,” he explained.
Similarly, Bola Longe, the Commissioner of Police in Nasarawa State, Nigeria, who spoke on behalf of other security agencies, said they would be neutral and carry out their job without fear or favour. The police commissioner also advised voters to observe all COVID-19 protocols during the election as violators will not be allowed to participate in the exercise.
Ahead of the elections, INEC released a new policy document detailing how elections will be conducted in a pandemic. It also organised a virtual training for ad-hoc staff of the commission ahead of the state constituency by-election in Nasarawa state.
This story is part of our new series on Nigeria where we analyse electoral reform in the country ahead of the next general elections in 2023.
