INEC reschedules Gov and State Houses of Assembly elections to March 18

* Extends campaigns till midnight of March 16

By Jon Egie

Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has rescheduled the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections slated to hold on Saturday, March 11 to Saturday, March 18.

A release issued by Barr Festus Okoye, National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee yesterday, explained the reasons for the rescheduling.

Citing the Election Petition Tribunal (EPT) which, on March 3, gave an ex-parte order for some political parties to inspect materials used for the Presidential election, including forensic inspection of over 176,000 Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BIVAS) that are located in INEC LGA offices across the country; INEC approached the Tribunal to reconsider the order given that the BIVAS systems were to be deployed for the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections and that the lack of a clearly defined timeframe for the inspection could disrupt the Commission’s ability to conduct the outstanding elections.

On Wednesday, March 8, (yesterday) the EPT reconsidered it’s earlier order and following the Tribunal ruling on reconfiguration of the BIVAS used for the Presidential election held on February 25, INEC met to assess the impact of the Tribunal ruling on the Commission’s preparation for the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections scheduled for March 11.

He said while the Tribunal ruling made it possible for INEC to commence the preparation of the BIVAS for the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections, 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 Houses of Assembly elections which now take place on Saturday, March 18, 2023. By this decision, campaigns will continue until midnight of Thursday, March 16, 2023.

He added that the decision to ensure that there was adequate time to back up the data stored on the over 176,000 BIVAS machines for the Presidential and National Assembly election held on February 25.