The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that it will conduct by-elections on Saturday, August 16, 2025, to fill vacant seats in 16 constituencies across 12 states. These constituencies include two senatorial districts, five federal constituencies, and nine state assembly constituencies, affecting over 3.5 million registered voters across 32 local government areas, 356 wards, and 6,987 polling units.
The affected states are Adamawa, Anambra, Edo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Kogi, Niger, Ogun, Oyo, Taraba, and Zamfara. Specifically, the by-elections will be held in Anambra South and Edo Central senatorial districts, as well as federal constituencies such as Ovia South-West/Ovia South-East in Edo State and Babura/Garki in Jigawa State. State assembly constituencies include Ganye in Adamawa State, Onitsha North I in Anambra State, and Dekina/Okura in Kogi State.
However, by-elections will not be held in two state constituencies: Khana II State Constituency in Rivers State due to the current state of emergency and Talata Mafara South State Constituency in Zamfara State following a legal challenge to the declaration of the seat vacant by the state Assembly. INEC will deploy 30,451 officials to ensure the smooth conduct of the elections.
In conjunction with the by-elections, INEC has also announced the resumption of Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) nationwide. Online pre-registration will begin on Monday, August 18, 2025, while in-person registration will commence on Monday, August 25, 2025. The CVR exercise will take place at INEC’s state offices and all 774 local government area offices across the country.
The Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Yusuf Dantalle, has called on INEC to utilize the forthcoming Anambra State governorship election, scheduled for November 8, 2025, to demonstrate its capacity to conduct credible and technology-driven elections. Dantalle urged INEC to rebuild public trust by leveraging new technologies, especially Artificial Intelligence (AI), to drive decision-making, risk management, voter engagement, predictive analytics, automation, and integrity safeguards.
Meanwhile, a former National Commissioner of INEC, Prof. Okechukwu Ibeanu, has expressed concerns about the substance of Nigeria’s electoral system. Speaking at a memorial forum organized by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) in Abuja, Ibeanu noted that Nigeria’s electoral system has become a mere ritual devoid of substance, designed primarily to serve the interests of the elite while excluding the masses from meaningful democratic participation.
