With just 67 days to go in the countdown to the 2023 polls, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has ruled out the postponement of the general election on account of logistics challenges.
The commission said that instead it is prepared to organise the elections as planned.
Commissioner for Information and Voter Education of INEC, Festus Okoye, gave the commission’s assurance yesterday when he featured on a Channels TV politics and current affairs programme, Politics Today.
INEC had fixed the presidential and National Assembly elections for February 25, 2023, while governorship and state assembly elections will be held on March 11, 2023.
Responding to a question on concerns that the commission is likely to postpone the 2023 election just like it did in 2019, Okoye noted that INEC chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, has assured that the elections won’t be shifted because of logistics issues.
He said the commission has the complement of all it needs to conduct the 2023 election, adding that they have not gone to complain to the National Assembly.
Okoye said, “We are committed to the conduct of free, fair, transparent and inclusive elections and we are working assiduously to make sure we give Nigerians the best election ever. And that is our commitment to the people of Nigeria and we are not going to fail.”
On whether the president was correct when he said that it has given INEC all it needs for the 2023 polls, Okoye said, “We have not complained to the National Assembly that we are not prepared”
Asked about the 2019 experience when the commission was silent over funding issues, he said, “The chairman of the commission, Prof Mahmoud Yakubu, has promised the people of this country that under his watch no election will be postponed or rescheduled on account of logistics or logistics challenges and we are committed to that.
“As of today we have the full compliments of what we need to prosecute the elections.”
He added that elections are a multi-stakeholder venture and shared responsibility, even as he said INEC will not fail in its own responsibility.