By Dare Akogun
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has postponed the governorship and state house of assembly elections scheduled for Saturday, March 11 by a week.
The polls have now been rescheduled by one week to March 18, 2023.
The news was contained in a statement signed the by the National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Commission Festus Okoye and made available to newsmen this night in Abuja.
Okoye said the postponement was due to the inability of the commission to commence the re-configuration of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines used for the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections, to enable their use for the state elections.
According to the statement “Following today’s rulling by the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, on the reconfiguration of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System used for the presidential election, the commission met to assess it’s impact on the commission for the Governorship and state Houses of assembly election.
“While the ruling of the Tribunal makes it possible for the commission to commence preparation of the BVAS for the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly election, it has come fsr 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 election, which will now take place on Saturday 18, March 2023.
“By this decision campaigns will now continue till midnight March 16, 2023,” he said.
See statement below:
