The Independent National Electoral Commission has decided to shift Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly elections till next week 23 February, citing logistics reasons.
The Governorship and state assembly elections will take place on 9 March, instead of 2 March as initially scheduled.
It was one of the decisions reached early today in a crunch talk between between INEC chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu and 12 national commissioners in Abuja, according to sources close to the meeting.
While anouncing the postponement at some minutes, before 3am, Professor Mahmood Yakubu said there will be media briefing later today on the decision, amidst reports of logistics problems faced by the commission.
The meeting, which began Friday evening, was still in progress up till 1.30 a.m.
It will not be the first time that the commission would postpone a scheduled general election.
In 2015, the presidential election was shifted from February 14 to March 28th, 2015; while the governorship and assembly elections scheduled for 28 February were shifted to 11 April.
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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) met on Friday, 15th February 2019 and reviewed its preparations for the 2019 General Election scheduled for Saturday, 16th February 2019 and Saturday, 2nd March 2019.
Following a careful review of the implementation of its logistics and operational plan and the determination to conduct free, fair and credible elections, the Commission came to the conclusion that proceeding with the elections as scheduled is no longer feasible.
Consequently, the Commission has decided to reschedule the Presidential and National Assembly Elections to Saturday, 23rd February 2019. Furthermore, the Governorship, State House of Assembly and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Council Elections is rescheduled to Saturday 9th March 2019. This will afford the Commission the opportunity to address identified challenges in order to maintain the quality of our elections.
This was a difficult decision for the Commission to take, but necessary for the successful delivery of the elections and the consolidation of democracy.
The Commission will meet key stakeholders to update them on this development at 2p.m. on Saturday, 16th February 2019 at the Abuja International Conference Centre.
