Victor EzejaThe Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has postponed the Governorship and State Assemblies elections scheduled for Saturday, March 11, 2023.
This was announced in a statement released on Wednesday night by Festus Okoye, INEC national commissioner and chairman, information and voter education committee.
Okoye said the exercise will now hold on March 18 which is one week’s extension.
He explained that the decision to reschedule the elections was taken after a meeting by the Commission following the Wednesday ruling by the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (EPT) on the reconfiguration of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) used for the Presidential election held on 25th February 2023.
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja which stands as the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal granted the request of INEC to reconfigure the BVAS machines for the upcoming elections.
However, the Commission according to Okoye sees the Court approval as coming late, and it would not be able to finish reconfiguration of the BVAS machines before Saturday, hence the need for the postponement.
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“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 elections, it has come far too late for the reconfiguration reiterate that the Commission is not against litigants inspecting election materials. consequently, we will continue to grant all litigants access to materials they require to pursue their cases in court.
We wish to reassure all political parties and candidates that the data from the presidential and national assembly elections will be backed up and available in INEC cloud facilities, including the INEC Result Viewing portal (IReV). 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 IReV for interested parties to access.
We thank Nigerians and friends of Nigeria for their understanding as we continue to deal with these difficult issues and navigate these challenging times.
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Okoye reiterated that the Commission is not against litigants inspecting election materials, adding “consequently, we will continue to grant all litigants access to materials they require to pursue their cases in court.”
“We wish to reassure all political parties and candidates that the data from the presidential and national assembly elections will be backed up and available in INEC cloud facilities, including the INEC Result Viewing portal (IReV). 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 IReV for interested parties to access,” Okoye promised.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
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