Abuja, 16 February, 2018(NAN)The Independent National Electoral Commission has decided to shift Saturdays presidential and National Assembly elections till next week 23 February. The governorship and house of assembly, FCT area council elections have also been shifted from 2 March to 9 March. INEC chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu confirmed NAN report of the shift of the presidential election, attributing the postponement of all the scheduled elections to logistic and operational problems. He said the postponement will afford the commission the opportunity to address the identified challenges in order to maintain the quality of Nigerias elections. The postponement of the election came after more than six hours of meeting between INEC chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu and 12 national commissioners in Abuja. The meeting, which began Friday evening ended early on Saturday. Professor Yakubu said the INEC will be meeting all stakeholders at 2pm on Saturday at the International Conference Centre in Abuja to explain the commissions position. Rotimi Oyekanmi, the chief press secretary to the INEC chairman had hinted newsmen earlier that some decisions about the election had been reached and that the decision would be communicated later. I can confirm to you that the INEC Chairman and the 12 national commissioners are in the meeting. Decisions have been taken and you will be addressed later, Oyekanmi said. Presidential and National Assembly elections were scheduled to take place throughout the country today, while governorship and state assembly elections were slated for 2 March. The national elections are expected to hold at 119,973 polling units across the country while collation of results will take place in 8,809 Registration Areas or Wards, 774 Local Government Areas and 36 States and the FCT. It will not be the first time that the commission would postpone a scheduled general election. In 2015, the presidential election w

We Have Completed Configuration Of Smart Card Readers – INEC

By InsideBusiness Last updated Sep 19, 2020

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it has completed the configuration of smart card readers.

The chairman of the commission, Mahmood Yakubu, said this at the commission’s third press briefing after the postponement of the elections.

On Tuesday at its second briefing, the commission said the configuring of the Smart Card Readers was 95 per cent done nationwide.

“I am pleased to report that we have now achieved 100 per cent completion of the configuration. We are good to go on this score,” Mr Yakubu, a professor, said on Wednesday.

The Card Readers were introduced in the 2015 general elections to facilitate the accreditation of voters using the Permanent Voters Card (PVC).

They are configured to specific polling units and only open for use at 8 a.m on Election Day.

According to the chairman, they are automatically shut down by 10 p.m in order to forestall any illegal use before the appointed time of elections.

The commission which had given directives to its state offices to invite stakeholders to the Central Bank of Nigeria to examine the retrieved materials deployed last week said reports from the states indicated full compliance.

Materials deployment to LGA commences in 10 states.

Having moved the sensitive materials to the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), INEC said forward deployment to the 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) nationwide commenced Wednesday.

With its commencement, Mr Yakubu said his deployment had begun in 10 states.

According to INEC’s timetable, to resolve logistics issues before the new date of the election, deployment of materials to LGAs will be between Wednesday, February 20 and Thursday, February 21.

The states are; Adamawa, Anambra, Benue, Ekiti, Jigawa, Katsina, Osun, Ogun, Oyo and Taraba State.

“.We have commenced the movement of materials to LGAs today. Other states will do so and conclude tomorrow.”

The chairman promised to give a full rendition of movement to LGAs across all states of the federation tomorrow.

“We have been making good progress on logistics. Similarly, all other arrangements for the movement of personnel from the LGAs to the Wards are on course.”