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.