Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has emphasized that no law says the commission must issue a Certificate of Return to the governor-elect within 48 hours.
The independent electoral body stated this just after Nigerian singer, Davido raised an alarm amid delay in issuing Certificate of Return to his uncle, Ademola Adeleke who won the Osun State gubernatorial election, after 48 hours.
INEC in a statement issued on Tuesday by its National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, stated that it has 14 days to issue Certificate of Return to winner of elections.
He said: “There is no law in place that mandates the Commission to issue a certificate to any candidate within 48 hours.
“The Commission is not a political party and will not be swayed by partisan political interests.
“Section 72 of the Electoral Act 2022 provides that a sealed certificate of return at an election in the prescribed form shall be issued within 14 days to every candidate who has been returned by the Returning Officer in an election under the Act”.
Earlier, OSG had reported that Davido in a post via his verified Twitter handle, called out the electoral umpire for failing to issue a Certificate of Return to Adeleke who won the Osun poll on Sunday within 48 hours.
He stated in the tweet, “48hrs after our @AAdeleke_01 victory at the Osun Gubernatorial elections, we are yet to receive our certificate.
“@inecnigeria should we send you fuel money? LOL Please no one should tamper with the will of the Osun People! Issue the certificate as required by Law!
Last Sunday, the electoral commission had declared Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner of the governorship election after securing 403,371 votes to defeat his closest rival and incumbent governor of the state, Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who polled 375,027 votes.
