Governorship election postponed – INEC

Governorship Election Date – The governorship and state assembly elections scheduled for March 11 have been postponed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

INEC National Commissioner for Voter Education Festus Okoye issued a statement on Wednesday evening announcing that elections will be held on Saturday, March 18.

He said 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 Presidential election, the Commission met to assess its impact on its preparations for the governorship exercise.

“The Commission has taken the difficult but necessary decision to reschedule the Governorship and State Assembly elections which will now take place on Saturday 18th March 2023,” he said.

According to Okoye, political parties will continue their campaigns until Thursday, March 16, 2023 at midnight – 24 hours before the new election date.

Although the tribunal’s ruling would allow INEC to begin preparing the BVAS for the governorship and state assembly elections, it is too late to complete the reconfiguration, according to Okoye.

“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,” he added.

📢 We are hiring writers!