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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has postponed governorship and state assemblies elections earlier scheduled for Saturday, March 11, to Saturday, March 18.
The commission took the decision at its management meeting in Abuja, which was convened on Wednesday after the Court of Appeal gave it the go-ahead to reconfigure Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines.
The meeting, which started at 7pm and ended at 10pm, was presided over by INEC National Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu.
In a statement by its National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, on Wednesday night, INEC said it could not go ahead with the governorship poll as earlier scheduled because it needed time to reconfigure BVAS machines, which were used for the presidential election on February 25.
The commission recalled that on March 3, Presidential Election Petition Tribunal gave 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.
INEC added that it 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 activation on the date of the Governorship and State Assembly elections,” Okoye said.
Okoye further said while the ruling of the tribunal made it possible for it to commence the preparation of the BVAS for the governorship and state 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 Assembly elections which will now take place on Saturday, 18th March 2023. By this decision, campaigns will continue until midnight of Thursday, 16th March 2023.”
Justifying its decision, Okoyrle said the postponement was 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.”
Okoye, however, said the commission was not against litigants inspecting election materials, adding that 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,” he added.