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THE Independent National Electoral Commission has explained why it shifted the scheduled governorship and state assemblies elections slated for March 11,by one week
The National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Barr. Festus Okoye disclosed this in a statement,released Wednesday night
The INEC in a two-page statement titled, “rescheduled of governorship and state houses of assembly elections” said it was too late to complete the configuration of the BImodal Voters Accreditation System machines after the court granted the commission its request .
PLATFORM TIMES reports that, six days after the first election, the Presidential Election petition tribunal had given an ex- parte order for the Peoples Democratic Party a d the Labour Party to inspect materials used for the election, including the forensic inspection of over 176,000 BVAS used in the election which were located in INEC LGA offices across the country.
Consequently, the commission went to court, requesting to be allowed to reconfigure the machines used for the presidential and national assembly elections and vary the inspection, following the allegation by both People’s Democratic Party and the Labour Party that the reconfiguration was a plot to deny them the data needed for their petitions .
PLATFORM TIMES also reports that the court granted the INEC’s request to proceed on the reconfiguration ahead of the Saturday election while it rejected the request to vary the inspection of the materials by the PDP and LP.
The commission however, held a closed-door meeting with the Resident Electoral Commissioners and resolved to shift the election to March 18.
Announcing the postponement, Okoye in the statement obtained by PLATFORM TIMES on Wednesday night, said the decision was to ensure proper preparation for the governorship election.
The statement read ” 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 18 March 2023.
“By this decision, campaigns will continue until midnight of Thursday 16 March 2023 Le. 24 hours before the new date for the election
“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 25 February 2023 and then to reconfigure them for the Govenorship and State Assembly elections. This has been the practice for all elections, including the period when the Commission was using the Smart Card Readers.”
While assuring the petitioners of it’s fair dealing, INEC said “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.
“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. Also, the results on the BVAS will continue to be available on the IReV for interested parties to access.
“We thank Nigerians and friends of Nigeria for their understanding as we continue to deal with these difficult issues and navigate these challenging times.”
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