JUST IN: INEC announces postponement of governorship elections, gives reasons 

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has officially announced the postponement of the governorship and house of assembly elections by one week.

The elections earlier scheduled for March 11, 2023 will now hold on March 18, 2023.

A statement issued by Festus Okoye, National Commissioner & Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee late Wednesday said  following today’s ruling by the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (EPT) on the reconfiguration of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) used for the Presidential election held on 25th February 2023, the Commission met to assess impact on the its preparation for the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections scheduled for Saturday, 11 March 2023.

“Nigerians would recall that on 3 March, 2023, the Presidential EPT 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 NEC LGA offices across the country.

“The Commission approached the Tribunal to reconsider the order, given that the BVAS Systems were to be deployed for the Governorship and State 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.

“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 election on the date of the Govemorship and State Assembly elections,” it explained.

INEC said while the ruling of the Tribunal made it possible for the Commission to commence the preparation of the BVAS for the Governorship and State Assembly elections, the ruling had come far too late for the reconfiguration to be completed.

“Consequently, the Commission has taken the difficult but necessary decision to reschedule the Governorship and State Assembly elections which will now take place on Saturday, 18 March, 2023. By this decision, campaigns will continue until midnight of Thursday, 16 March, 2023, ie. 24 hours before the new date for the election.

“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 the Smart Card Readers,” the commission explained.

INEC reiterated that it was not against litigants inspecting election materials and that consequently, it would continue to grant all litigants access to the materials they required 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 Results Viewing Portal (iReV).

“Political parties can apply for Certified True Copies of the backend data of the BVAS. Also, the results on the BVAS will continue to be avaiable on the iReV for interested parties to access,” it added.