The Independent National Electoral Commission, or INEC, has postponed the March 11 governorship and state assembly elections to March 18 because it was unable to begin reconfiguring the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System, or BVAS, machines on time.
Yesterday, the Court of Appeal authorized the commission to reconfigure the BVAS utilized for the Presidential and National Assembly elections on February 25 in preparation for the state elections.
Funke Segun-Osifeso, INEC’s Head of Voter Education, Publicity, Gender, and Civil Society Organization in Ondo State, confirmed the delay, stating: This is to inform you that the election for the House of Assembly has been officially pushed back until Saturday, February 18, 2023.
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Vanguard learned that the INEC hierarchy was still meeting over the issue last night and had not resolved it as of press time.
Vanguard was informed by another INEC source that insecurity could be another reason the election is postponed.
It was learned that some Adhoc staff members are afraid to go out and conduct the elections on March 11 because of the violence that occurred during the presidential and National Assembly elections on February 25.
A source stated: Due to the events of the Presidential election, some Adhoc staff members are hesitant to participate in the elections.
Unless the appellate court reverses itself on the relief it granted the Presidential Candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, Atiku Abubakar, and his Labour Party, LP counterpart, Peter Obi, the elections could be postponed, as Vanguard exclusively reported on Monday.
Festus Okoye, the National Commissioner of INEC in charge of the Information and Voter Education Committee, and Mr. Rotimi Oyekanmi, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, were unable to be reached for comment at the time of this writing.
On Wednesday night, there were rumors that the INEC might have postponed the elections for governorship and state assembly, which caused confusion in the nation’s political circles.
Unless the appellate court reverses itself on the relief it granted the Presidential Candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, Atiku Abubakar, and his counterpart of the Labour Party LP, Peter Obi, the elections could be postponed, as Vanguard exclusively reported on Monday.
However, according to a source, the election may be postponed due to the possibility that the BVAS machine reconfiguration will not be completed by Tuesday.
The court had stopped INEC from changing the BVAS used in the Presidential and National Assembly elections on Saturday.
Atiku’s attorney, Adedamola Faloku, requested seven prayers from the tribunal, while Obi’s application, which was moved by his team of lawyers led by Mr. Alex Ejesieme, SAN, sought six primary reliefs.
The plaintiffs sought the following reliefs: an order granting the applicants permission to scan and copy voter registration information and ballot papers for use in the 25th of February 2023 election for the position of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“An order granting the applicants permission to conduct a Digital Forensic Inspection of the BVAS machines used in the 25 February 2023 election for the Office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
“The First Respondent from tampering with the information embedded in the BVAS machines until the due inspection was conducted and Certified True Copies of them issued,” the plaintiffs also requested.
Regarding the BVAS, the court granted the reliefs and stated: That permission to conduct a digital forensic inspection of BVAS machines used in the 25 February 2023 election for the presidency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is granted to the applicants.
Threatened elections, however, INEC is expected to use the same BVAS for the sub-national elections, necessitating a reorganization and adaptation of the systems.
According to Vanguard checks, configuring the BVAS takes an average of five days, so the commission needs to start the reconfiguration process by Tuesday at the latest.