The tenure of Sokoto State governor, Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko, will end in May 2012 contrary to the pronouncement of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that governorship elections would be held in Sokoto in January 2011, the Sokoto Progressive Youth Forum (SPYF) has said.

SPYF's coordinator, Musa M. Yabo yesterday in Abuja said governor Wamakko was duly elected by the Sokoto electorate in 2008 and based on the provision of the 1999 constitution; he would serve for four uninterrupted years.

Yabo, in a statement said "Wamakko's tenure as the executive governor of Sokoto State began on May 24, 2008, having secured the mandate of the good people of the state on a fresh election, adding that "the April 2007 election was nullified by the courts."

Making reference to the 1999 constitution, he said elected governors in Nigeria are to be in office for four years, and "even the amendment to the constitution, which INEC purportedly based its action, has vitiated it."

While appealing that governor Wamakko should be allowed to complete his four-year term, the group said, INEC's decision had created unwarranted confusion and called the commission "to differentiate between rerun and fresh elections which unambiguously stipulated in the amended constitution."