Movement Restricted Ahead of INEC By-Elections
The Independent National Electoral Commission deployed sensitive materials on Thursday for the June 20, 2026, by-elections in Enugu, Nasarawa, Rivers, Ondo, Kebbi and Kano states, even as the police announced restrictions on movement across the affected constituencies.
The polls will hold alongside the closely watched Ekiti State governorship election scheduled for the same Saturday. INEC Chairman Professor Joash Amupitan, in the run-up to the elections, assured stakeholders that “our focus on Ekiti remains total and undiluted” while major legislative by-elections proceed across six other states.
The by-elections cover senatorial vacancies in Enugu North, Nasarawa North, Rivers South East and Ondo South, a state House of Assembly seat in Zuru, Kebbi, and a federal constituency seat in Dawakin Kudu/Warawa, Kano. INEC had earlier put the total number of pending by-elections nationwide at 17, most of them triggered by deaths and defections within the Ninth and Tenth Assemblies.
In Rivers, the commission began distributing materials for the South East Senatorial District contest, which fills the seat left vacant by the death of Senator Barry Mpigi at a London hospital in February. The four parties on the ballot, the Action Alliance, the All Progressives Congress, the Labour Party and the Peoples Democratic Party, inspected ballot papers and result sheets at the Central Bank of Nigeria’s zonal office in Port Harcourt.
The Rivers Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr Johnson Sinikiem, said the exercise was meant “to ensure transparency before their distribution to the various local government areas and Registration Area Centres.” He disclosed that 858,573 registered voters were expected to participate across 1,629 polling units in the seven council areas of Andoni, Opobo/Nkoro, Eleme, Tai, Oyigbo, Khana and Gokana. Three supervising RECs from Delta, Adamawa and Katsina were drafted to oversee the process, a measure consistent with INEC’s practice of deploying neutral officials into politically sensitive zones.
In Enugu, the command restricted human and vehicular movement from 12:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on election day across the six councils of the Enugu North district: Igbo-Etiti, Igbo-Eze North, Igbo-Eze South, Nsukka, Udenu and Uzo-Uwani. Police spokesman SP Daniel Ndukwe said electoral officials and persons on verifiable essential duties were exempted, adding that Commissioner of Police Mamman Bitrus Giwa had assured residents of maximum security following reinforcements ordered by Inspector-General Olatunji Disu. The Nasarawa North contest follows the death of Senator Godiya Akwashiki.
The exercise serves as an early test of INEC under Amupitan, who took charge after the tenure of Mahmood Yakubu. The commission has framed Ekiti as “the gold standard” ahead of the 2027 general elections, with the Osun governorship poll due in August. INEC reported that 1,028,929 Permanent Voters’ Cards, representing 97.1 per cent of registered voters, had been collected in Ekiti, where 13 parties are in the race. Movement restrictions and party-witnessed material inspections, now routine features of Nigerian elections since the 2015 reforms, will again define Saturday’s conduct.