2023: No Plans To Postpone General Election – INEC Chairman Insists

The upcoming general election, which begins in just three weeks, will not be postponed, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

On Thursday, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the chairman of INEC, emphasized that the polls would go as planned and that nothing had changed.

When he met with Brig. General Yushu’a Ahmed, the new director general of the National Youth Service Corps, on Thursday, the INEC chairman reiterated the commission’s position.

According to what was learned, Yakubu was responding to rumors that the commission would be delaying the elections.

According to reports that surfaced on Wednesday morning, INEC may decide to push back the presidential election scheduled for February 25 by at least two weeks.

According to information, INEC may be forced to move the poll by 14 days due to the ongoing burning of INEC offices around the nation and the insecurity issues in the South-East and North-East.

A top INEC official told Daily Independent that although the electoral body is committed to keeping the set date, recent events in the nation may force it to issue an extension.

He said: “The Commission is doing all it can to stick to the announced dates but given the numerous challenges being witnessed across the country, such as the burning of our offices, insecurity challenges and attack on INEC officials, lingering fuel scarcity coupled with problems arising from the Naira redesign, I won’t be surprised if the election is postponed by two weeks minimum.”

However, in his brief remarks today, Yakubu cleared the air saying the election would hold as planned as the commission has no plans to shift any of the elections.

He told Ahmed how lucky the commission was to have a large pool of youths, who are largely corp members ready for deployment in the elections.

The INEC boss noted that no electoral commission can conduct any election based on its own staff strength alone across countries of the world.

He, therefore, assured the new NYSC boss of the safety of corp members during the election.

Ahmed also said that the commitment of the NYSC to the delivery of credible polls in the country was unshakable.