The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC is set to conduct by-elections and re-run elections in 26 states of the federation on Saturday February 3, 2024.

INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu made the disclosure Monday when he led a team of the Commission’s management on a courtesy visit to the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Hasan Bala Abubakar at the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Headquarters in Abuja.

The INEC team were at the NAF headquarters to solicit the corporation of the Force in airlifting of critical materials for the elections.

He said- “This weekend (February 3), the commission will conduct bye-elections and re-run elections in 26 states of the federation.

In nine states, two senators, four members of the House of Representatives and three members of State Houses of Assembly will be elected in bye-elections to replace members who passed on or resigned their memberships of the national and state assemblies.

He congratulated Abubakar on his appointment as the 22nd Chief of the Air Staff and all other recently promoted officers serving at both headquarters and elsewhere.

The INEC boss commended the NAF for its cooperation in the area of election security and logistic support for the timely delivery of materials during general elections, off-cycle elections, by-elections, supplementary elections and re-run elections.

“I want to place on record the neutrality and professionalism of NAF in particular and armed forces in general in discharging your responsibilities. There has been no unhappy incidents or compromise on the part of your officers and airmen.

In his reaction, the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Hasan Bala Abubakar, assured the electoral commission of NAF’s readiness to ensure airlifting of the electoral materials as requested.

He however urged the Independent INEC to settle outstanding bills of some services rendered to the electoral commission.

He said- “I would like to seize this opportunity to remind the Chairman that there are some outstanding bills which are yet to be cleared by INEC. The settlement of those bills will enable us to serve you better.”

He stated that INEC was the first governmental organization to pay such visit to NAF Headquarters this year and noted that Nigeria stands out as a shining example for other nations of the world and is well renowned as the largest economy and democracy in Africa due to the success of the nation’s democracy.

This, he said, is being underpinned by strong institutions like INEC which works tirelessly to allow all citizens to enjoy the right to decide who should govern them in free and fair elections.

The Air Chief also noted that the successful conduct of elections is largely hinged on robust security and well-choreographed logistics supply chain management and that the Nigerian Air Force has been INEC’s dependable partner in providing security in addition to rapid airlift for the distribution of sensitive and non-sensitive electoral materials across the country.