By Godfrey AKON
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has postponed Saturday’s governorship and state assembly polls to March 18, 2023.
The commission announced the postponement late Wednesday, in a statement by its National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Barr. Festus Okoye.
The postponement follows the ruling of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal on Wednesday which gave INEC the go ahead to reconfigure the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, for activation on the date of the governorship and state assembly elections.
According to INEC, it was necessary to reschedule the polls as it was unable to promptly commence reconfiguration of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, machines utilized during the February 25 presidential election to enable their use in the state elections.
“Recall that on 3rd March 2023, the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal 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.
“While the ruling of the Tribunal makes it possible for the Commission 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 i.e. 24 hours before the new date for the election,” INEC explained.
The commission said the 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.
INEC also clarified that it is not against litigants inspecting election materials, adding that it will continue to grant all litigants access to the materials they require to pursue their cases in court.
Again the commission, in the statement, 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.
It noted that 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.
