INEC postpones elections till 23 February

The Independent National Electoral Commission postponed the presidential and national election of Saturday till 23 February 2019 .

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 attributing the postponement of the scheduled elections to logistics 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 Nigeria ’ s elections.

The postponement of the election came after more than six hours of meeting between INEC chairman , and 12 national commissioners in Abuja .

Professor Yakubu said the INEC will be meeting all stakeholders at 2 pm on Saturday at the International Conference Centre in Abuja to explain the commission ’ s 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 was shifted from February 14 to March 28 th , 2015 ; while the governorship and assembly elections scheduled for 28 February were shifted to 11 April.