INEC Confirms Rescheduling of Guber & State Assembly Polls

Prof. Mahmood Yakubu

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has confirmed the rescheduling of the governorship and state assembly elections by one week.

The elections originally slated for 11th of March will now hold on the 18th of March.

In a statement released on Wednesday night, Festus Okoye, the INEC National Commissioner for Voter Education, said that following the ruling by the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (EPT) on the reconfiguration of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) used for the February 25 General elections, the electoral umpire met to assess the impact of the ruling on their readiness for the elections originally slated for 11th. Festus Okoye admitted that the commission resolved that it was too late for the reconfiguration to be concluded.

“This decision has not been taken lightly but it is necessary to ensure that there is adequate time to back up the data stored on the over 176,000 BVAS machines from the presidential and National Assembly elections held on 25th February 2023 and then to reconfigure them for the Governorship and State Assembly elections. This has been the practice for all elections, including the period when the Commission was using Smart Card Readers.

“However, we wish to reiterate that the Commission is not against litigants inspecting election materials. Consequently, it will continue to grant all litigants access to the materials they require to pursue their cases in court.”

Read the full statement here:

PRESS RELEASE
Rescheduling of Governorship and State Houses of Assembly Elections pic.twitter.com/5M5oDgP5Cp

— INEC Nigeria (@inecnigeria) March 8, 2023