The chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), along with national commissioners, is meeting with chairmen and secretaries of political parties, ahead of the forthcoming Ekiti governorship election.

Tuesday’s engagement is one of the consultative meetings scheduled by the electoral umpire to review preparations for the Ekiti election.

It is holding exactly eleven days to the governorship election, which is scheduled for June 20th, 2026.

The meeting hopes to enable the political parties and the electoral umpire to put finishing touches on all the preparations for the Ekiti governorship election.

In his opening remarks, the INEC chairman, Joash Amupitan, defended the commission’s decision to appeal the recent court judgment on the powers of the commission to set a timetable for elections, including that of setting timelines for pre-election activities for political parties, such as the conduct of primaries and the submission of the lists of candidates.

The chairman maintained that the decision, which upheld the powers of INEC to issue the election timetable on the one hand and, on the other hand, struck out the powers of INEC to set the timeline for political parties’ primaries, is inconsistent and therefore seeks a clearer judicial pronouncement.

In a motion on notice attached to the appeal, INEC prayed the court for an order staying the execution and/or further execution of the judgment of the High Court delivered on 20th May, 2026, pending the hearing and determination of the appeal it filed against the judgment at the Court of Appeal.