INEC postpones Presidential and Governorship elections

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has postponed the presidential, legislative and governorship elections after an emergency meeting.

The presidential and national assembly elections will now hold on February 23, 2019 instead of February 16, 2019.

Governorship elections earlier slated for March 2, 2019 will now hold on March 9, 2019.

INEC says it arrived at the decision after reviewing its logistics for the exercise.

In a statement sent to Pulse, INEC said “following a careful review of the implementation of its logistics and operational plan and the determination to conduct free, fair and credible elections, the Commission came to the conclusion that proceeding with the elections as scheduled is no longer feasible”.

The statement added that “consequently, the commission has decided to reschedule the Presidential and National Assembly Elections to Saturday, 23rd February 2019. Furthermore, the Governorship, State House of Assembly and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Council Elections is rescheduled to Saturday, 9th March 2019.

“This will afford the Commission the opportunity to address identified challenges in order to maintain the quality of our elections.”

Nigeria’s electoral commission says the decision to postpone the vote was a difficult one to take.

“This was a difficult decision for the Commission to take, but necessary for the successful delivery of the elections and the consolidation of our democracy.

“The Commission will meet key stakeholders to update them on this development at 2pm on Saturday, 16th February, 2019 at the Abuja International Conference Center”, the statement signed by INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, read.

Suggestions that the election will be postponed emerged a little before midnight of Friday, February 15, 2019 when it became clear that ballot materials were yet to arrive a couple of States, including Niger and Ekiti.