The Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) late last Wednesday rescheduled the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly Elections earlier scheduled to take place on Saturday March 11, 2023 till Saturday, March 18, 2023, about two weeks after conducting the Presidential and National Assembly elections.
The commission announced the postponement in a public statement issued and signed by the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr Festus Okoye.
Explaining the decision to the reschedule the elections, INEC said that while the ruling of the Election Tribunal delivered on Wednesday makes it possible to commence the preparation of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for the Governorship and State Assembly elections, it came far too late for the reconfiguration to be concluded before March 11, 2023.
INEC said it consequently took the “difficult but necessary decision to reschedule the Governorship and State Assembly elections which will now take place on Saturday March 18, 2023. By this decision, campaigns will continue until midnight of Thursday 16th March 2023 i.e. 24 hours before the new date for the elections.
“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.”
INEC added, “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 February 25, 2023, the Commission met to assess the impact on its preparation for the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections scheduled for Saturday, March 11, 2023.
“Nigerians will recall that on 3rd 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 INEC 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 activation on the date of the Governorship and State Assembly elections.
“However, we wish to reiterate that the Commission is not against litigants inspecting election materials. Consequently, it will continue to grant all litigants access to the materials they require to pursue their cases in court”.
The electoral umpire reassured all political parties and candidates that the data from the Presidential and National Assembly elections would be backed up and made available in INEC cloud facilities, including the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV).
It said political parties can apply for Certified True Copies of the backend data of the BVAS, adding that “the results on the BVAS will continue to be available on the IReV for interested parties to access”.
As valid as INEC’s reason for the postponement of the poll may look, it would be recalled that INEC under Yakubu Mahmood did the same during the 2019 General election as it shifted the presidential / national assembly elections by one week.
Speaking then, Mahmood said, “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”.
Many Nigerians have criticised INEC’s decision to reschedule the elections. They see it as an act borne out of lack of good planning.
INEC has been reassuring Nigerians that the election dates are sacrosanct. Based on this, many Nigerians had to re-adjust their social engagements in the first quarter of 2023 to accommodate the elections dates.
The restriction of movement on Election Day forced many to fix wedding ceremonies and other social engagements for a date outside the election calendar. In a situation where the new date for the elections clashes with the dates fixed for such engagements, there will be great dislocation.
The postponement has also stressed many Nigerians a lot. There are those who travelled to other parts of the country where they hoped to cast their votes and quickly return. With the postponement, such people will return before the new election date because they didn’t prepare for the added days while travelling. They may also not be willing to go back to vote because of the extra cost of doing so.
As for political parties, campaigns are very costly and extending the campaign period because of election postponement will cost them more money, which they didn’t bargain for. Candidates in the postponed elections are going to incur more expenses, mostly through borrowing.
Also, foreign and local observers, as well as foreign missions monitoring elections in Nigeria will have to cater for additional days in terms of logistics, such as extra accommodation fees, feeding and other ancillary that were not planned for.
Speaking with THEWILL, an Abuja based public affairs commentator, Adigun Agbaje, said that INEC usually postpone elections without looking at the economic and social effects that its action will have on Nigerians.
“Aside social engagements that the new date may disrupt, even the academic calendar of schools are forcefully altered. Election Day is a full day- off in every Nigerian’s Calendar and I think INEC should stop altering the date for election.
“Postponement of election also affects the finances of the candidates. They will undoubtedly spend more in terms of mobilisation of their supporters and the party’s expenses. The best for INEC is to factor all these in, before announcing the dates for elections,” Agbaje said.
About the Author
AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.
