2019 ELECTION SEQUENCE: Existing order remains until… — INEC

Despite the opposition of the National Assembly, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has maintained that presidential and National Assembly elections must hold first and on the same day while the governorship and state legislative elections will come next.

The National Assembly had opposed the sequence of the 2019 elections as proposed by INEC and amended the Electoral Act to reorder the sequence of the election timetable to mean that the National Assembly election would hold first while the presidential election would come last.

The bill passed by the lawmakers had since been transmitted to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent.

But INEC chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, during a quarterly consultative meeting with the media in Abuja on Monday, maintained that the commission will go ahead with the election sequence it announced.

In the announcement the electoral body had stated that the presidential and National Assembly elections would hold on February 16, 2019, followed by the governorship, state assembly and area council elections in the Federal Capital Territory on March 2, 2019.

“There are many ‘ifs’ but here, we deal with certainty. As far as the commission is concerned, there is no legal lacuna at the moment. What we have done is on the basis of the existing law and nothing has changed.

READ ALSO: Ortom present, Saraki missing as APC holds caucus meeting

“If the bill is accented to, we will look at the provisions and inform Nigerians on the next step. But as far as the commission is concerned at the moment, we are operating under the existing law and we have issued a timetable for the activities accordingly.

“If something happens tomorrow, we will examine it and proceed accordingly,” Yakubu said.

According to the commission’s chairman, “Right now, the draft is on my table based on the current schedule of activities. Thereafter, we will submit it to the approving authorities.”

 

RipplesNigeria… without borders, without fears

Click here to join the Ripples Nigeria WhatsApp group for latest updates.

 

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now