ICYMI: INEC Postpones Governorship Polls By 1 Week To Reconfigure BVAS

The March 11 elections for governor and state assemblies have been postponed by one week by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

As a result of this change, the elections for the governor and state assembly will now take place on March 18, 2023.

Festus Okoye, national commissioner and chairman of Information and Voter Education, made the announcement in a press release Friday night in Abuja.

Okoye claimed that as a result of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal’s (EPT) decision regarding the redesign of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) used for the presidential election held on February 25, 2023, the Commission convened to determine how it would affect the level of preparations for the governorship and state house of assemblies elections scheduled for March 11, 2023, and was compelled to postpone the elections.

Although the Tribunal’s decision allowed the Commission to start preparing the BVAS for the Governorship and State Assembly elections, he claimed that it arrived much too late for the reconfiguration to be finished in time for the elections.

He explained that as a result, the Commission has made the challenging but essential decision to change the dates of the Governorship and State Assembly elections, which will now be held on Saturday, March 18, 2023.

Campaigns will continue through Thursday, March 16, 2023, at midnight, or 24 hours before the new election date, he stated.

He pointed out that an election’s precise day and time are the only times the BVAS can be turned on.

“The BVAS must be reconfigured for activation on the date of the Governorship and State Assembly elections,” he said. “It was used for the Presidential and National Assembly elections on February 25, 2023.