The Independent National Electoral Commission in Osun State has said that it has yet to be formally notified of the demise of Senator Isiaka Adetunji Adeleke, who represented Osun West Senatorial District in the upper chamber.
To this end, INEC disclosed that the vacuum that Adeleke’s demise has created in the Senate would not be filled until the National Assembly formally informed the electoral commission of his death, adding that it was after this that preparations would be made to conduct a bye- election for his replacement.
Speaking with journalists on Thursday at the launch of the Continuous Voter Registration exercise ahead of the general election in the country, the Administrative Secretary of INEC in Osun State, Mr. Emmanuel Ademusire, said that the law stipulates that the political party of the deceased would inform the National Assembly to notify the commission of the lawmaker’s demise.
While revealing that the commission has maximum of three months to conduct an election for the Osun Senatorial seat after the National Assembly would have notified it, Ademusire insisted that INEC had yet to be formally aware of Adeleke’s death.
He said, “The commission is not yet aware of the death of Senator Adeleke. By law, the National Assembly should notify the commission of his death after the political party the person belonged would have notified the National Assembly. There is a procedure to follow and the law stipulates a procedure for us to follow before the decision to refill his vacant position in the Senate. Once the Assembly’s notification gets to the commission in Abuja, a correspondence would be sent to us to start preparation for election that would produce another representation for Osun West Senatorial district.
“We already have the total number of registered voters that was used for the 8th Assembly election and this will be used for the election to replace late Senator Adeleke. This means that those who are just participating in the continuous voter registration would not be able to vote during the election,” he added.
Meanwhile the INEC official noted that “a reasonable number of Nigerians are yet to register for their permanent voters cards and this should not be so.”
Ademusire, while advising those who were yet to get voters cards to register, he warned Nigerians to desist from multiple registration, warning  that anyone caught would be handed over to security agencies for prosecution.
Ademusire, who doubles as the Acting Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, said the CVR was for Nigerians that have attained the age of 18 and above, saying that the registration would end 60 days to election.
He added that the exercise would hold at the thirty local government areas in the state and the area office at Modakeke between the hours of 9am and 3pm on week days.
