INEC Highlights Six Procedures To Meet Up With New Election Date

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has outlined six steps to resolve its logistics issues before the new date of the presidential and national assembly elections.

The election, initially scheduled to hold February 16, was moved by INEC some hours to the election, citing logistics issues as the cause.

According to a breakdown by the commission’s chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, from February 17 to February 21, the configuration of Smart Card Readers (SMCR) would be done.

On Monday, February 18, the completion and confirmation of materials would be concluded.

From February 20 to February 21, the receipt and distribution of sensitive materials would be made to Local Government Areas.

On the same February 21, a refresher course would be done for ad-hoc staff, after which, the deployment of personnel to Registration Area Centres would be done on February 22.

The commission apologised to Nigerians and all stakeholders, seeking their understanding.

“I want to appeal to Nigerians and all other stakeholders for their understanding in what has been a very difficult decision for the Commission.

“As Chairman of INEC, and on behalf of the Commission, we take full responsibility for what happened and we regret any inconvenience our decision might have caused”.

He said the decision, though painful, was for the good of the nation.

“We believe that ultimately, this is for the good of our democracy and country,” he said.
He, therefore, assured the commitment of the commission to conduct free, fair and credible elections.

The chairman of INEC explained that the postponement was only due to logistics issues, not due to security issues, political influence or lack of resources.

This is quite contrary to several suggestions and claims that logistics could not have been the only reason why the election was postponed.


Source: Premium Times.