INEC Postpones Governorship, State House of Assembly Elections

The independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has postponed the governorship and state assembly elections scheduled for March 11 by one week. The elections will now hold on March 18.

This was confirmed by INEC National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye in a statement on Wednesday.

He said “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 25^th February 2023, the Commission met to assess its impact on the Commission’s preparations for the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections scheduled for Saturday, 11^th March 2023.”

“…the commission has taken the difficult but necessary decision to reschedule the Governorship and State House of Assembly elections which will now take place on Saturday 18^th March 2023. By this decision, campaigns will continue until midnight of Thursday 16^th March 2023 1.e 24 hours before the new date for the election.”

Okoye further went on to say 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.”

See the full Statement below.