INEC Release Statement, Reshedules State House of Assembly, Governorship Election to March 18th

By: Ogunleye Oluwapelumi

The independent National Electoral commission, in the late hours of Wednesday released a Statement, confirming the postponement of the Guber election scheduled for March 11th, to march 18th.

The press release which was duly signed by

Barr. Festus Okoye reads ” following today’s ruling by the presidential election petition tribunal, on the reconfiguration of the Bimoda voters accreditation system used for the presidential election held on 5thFebruary 2023. The Commission met to assess its impact on the Commission’s preparation for the governorship and state House of Assembly elections sheduled for Saturday 11th March 2023.

” Nigerians would recall that on third March 2023, the presidential EPC had given an ex parte order for some political parties to inspect materials used for the presidential election, including the forensic inspection of over 176,000 BVAS used in the election, which are located in INEC LGA offices across the country. The Commission approached for the governorship and State Assembly election, and that the lack of a clearly defined timeframe for the inspection could disrupt the Commission’s ability to conduct the outstanding election.

“For instance, the BVAS can only be activated on the specific date and time of an election, having been used for the presidential and National Assembly elections on 25th February 2023, it is necessary to reconfigure the BVAS for activation on the date of the governorship and State Assembly elections.

” While the ruling of the tribunal makes it possible for the commission to commence the preparation of the BVAS for the governorship and State Assembly election, it has come far too late for the reconfiguration to be concluded. Consequently, the commission has taken the difficult but necessary decision to reschedule the governorship and State Assembly election, which will now take place on Saturday 18th March 2023. By this decision campaigns will continue on till the midnight of Thursday 16th March 2023. That is 24 hours before the new date for the election.

” We wish to reassure all political parties and candidates that the data from the presidential and National Assembly election will be backed up and available on INEC cloud facilities, Including the INEC result viewing Porter. political parties can apply for certified true copies of the back end data of the BVAs also the result on the BVAs will continue to be available on the IREF for interested parties to access” the statement concludes.