“Why we did it,” full statement issued by Barr. Festus Okoye, National Commissioner & Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee

 
, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has officially announced a postponement of the governorship and state houses of assembly elections by one week from Saturday, March 11 to Saturday, March 18, 2023 nationwide except Federal Capital Territory ( FCT) where no status of a Governor State Assembly.

Rising from its crucial meeting Wednesday Night, led by INEC’s  Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, the commission gave details of the reason itsdecision was inevitable.

Here, below, is the fill statement.

RESCHEDULING OF GOVERNORSHIP AND STATE HOUSES OF ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS

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 25th February 2023, the Commission met to assess itsimpact on the Commission’s preparations for the Governorship and State Houses of
Assembly elections scheduled for Saturday, 11h March 2023.

Nigerians would 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 disnupt 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 Govemorship 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 18h 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.

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 25h 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

However, we wish to reiterate that the Commission is not against litigants inspecting election materials. Consequenty, 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 wil 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 dificult issues and navigate these challenging times.

Barr. Festus Okoye
National Commissioner & Chairman
Information and Voter Education Committee
Wednesday 8h March 2023