Reactions As INEC Postpones Governorship Election By One Week Over BVAS Reconfiguration

Reactions As INEC Postpones Governorship Election By One Week Over BVAS Reconfiguration

A few weeks after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) conducted the presidential and National Assembly elections, the electoral body has announced its initial arrangements to conduct the governorship and state House of Assembly elections on Saturday, March 11, 2023.

In the late hours of Wednesday evening, a verified report by the Punch Newspaper revealed that the electoral umpire held an emergency meeting as they deliberated over March 18 and March 25 as possible dates for the conduct of the gubernatorial and state house of assembly elections across the federation. It was however settled that the March 11 polls have been postponed by one week, i.e., March 18.

The commission explained that the new date was chosen to enable its technical team to commence the reconfiguration of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), previously used in the February 25 presidential and national assembly polls.

One of INEC’s officials said, “The BVAS reconfiguration would take three or four days, and since they would all be moved to the headquarters in Abuja, the machines would be reconfigured and deployed to the various states and finally to the polling units.”