About 3,553,659 eligible voters across 6,987 polling units in 12 States, 32 Local Government Areas, and 356 Wards are expected to participate in the August 16 bye-elections into the National and State Houses of Assembly.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) portal for nomination of candidates for the election, which opened on Monday, July 21, automatically shut down on Saturday, July 26, while the final list of candidates was expected to have been published on Friday, August 1, 2025.

By the INEC timetable, campaigns for the bye election was scheduled to kick off on Saturday, August 2, 2025.

Also, the dedicated portal for media coverage of the election closed on the 31st of July, while the commission has already published the list of accredited election observers for the election.

At the time of this report, the commission was yet to release the list of candidates for the election as well as the number of political parties contesting the election.

However, the name of 60 local and 4 foreign election observers including the European Union delegation has been published by the commission to monitor the election.

Election is expected to be conducted in two Senatorial districts in Edo and Anambra and five Federal Constituencies in Edo, Ogun, Kaduna, Jigawa and Oyo.

Edo central senatorial district became vacant as a result of the resignation of Senator Monday Okpebholo to contest the Governorship election in Edo state, while Anambra South senatorial district became vacant as a result of the death of Senator Ifeanyi Uba.

Also, while the Ovia Federal Constituencies of Edo state became vacant as a result of resignation by Danis Idahosa to contest as the Deputy Governor of Edo state, Ibadan North (Oyo state), Chikun/Kajuru (Kaduna state), Bakura/Garki (Jigawa state) and Ikene/Shagamu/Remo North federal constituencies became vacant as a result of the death of the lawmakers.

The election into state Houses of Assembly will also be conducted in Kogi, Zamfara, Niger, Taraba, Adamawa, Kano, Anambra and Kaduna States.

The Nation gathered that the Julius Abure-led faction of the Labour Party has threatened to go to court to challenge it’s exclusion from the process leading to the Elections, but the alleged exclusion could not be confirmed last night as officials told The Nation to await the final list of candidates for the election.

Earlier, the Commission had warned political parties against making careless mistakes in the nomination and submission of candidates for the various elections, saying such mistakes could be detrimental to both the parties and their candidates.

National Commissioner and Chairperson of the Legal Services, Clearance and Complaints Committee (LSC&CC), Mrs. May Agbamuche-Mbu gave the warning at a two-day refresher training workshop on using the INEC Candidate Nomination Portal (ICNP) for party officials.

She said “Nomination of candidates is not only a statutory obligation as provided in Section 29 of the Electoral Act, 2022, but it is the very foundation upon which elections are conducted. An error in the submission of personal particulars of candidates by political parties can be potentially detrimental to both the party and its candidate.”

The National Commissioner stressed that despite the progress made so far with the ICNP in reducing paperwork and improving compliance, political parties still face challenges such as incomplete form submissions, improper document attachments, and frequent turnover of personnel managing the nomination process.

“This refresher training is designed to bridge those gaps and ensure that both returning and newly appointed party officials have the knowledge and skills necessary for a smooth nomination process,” she added.

The Nation also gathered that the Commission has received assurance of adequate security for the election from the office of the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu

At a recent meeting of the Interagency Consultative Committee on Election Security, Ribadu said the security agents will, among other things, intensify intelligence efforts to monitor and preempt any threats to elections and provide real-time intelligence to enable the implementation of proactive measures.

He was speaking through the Director Internal Security, in his office, Hassan Y. Abdullahi, at the second quarterly consultative meeting of the Interagency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES).

The assurance came as a result of security concerns raised by the Commission Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu.

Ribadu said collaborative efforts between security agencies and the commission have been the mainstay of maintaining peace and order during the election. (The Nation)