Nigeria’s electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on Saturday, announced new dates for the 2023 elections following Thursday’s signing of the electoral bill by President Buhari.
This was announced by the National Chairman of the commission, Professor Mahmood Yakubu at a news conference in Abuja, the Federal capital.
According to him, the Presidential and National Assembly elections will now hold on Saturday, February 25, 2023, while governorship and state houses of assembly elections will hold on March 11, 2023.
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Yakubu explained that the new date is to allow for conformity with the provisions of the Electoral laws which stipulates that elections notice be published at least 260 days before the elections.
The INEC boss also said the Electoral guidelines will also be published in due course.
From the adjusted electoral timetable distributed to journalists, all political parties are expected to conduct party primaries and resolve all disputes arising from the primaries between April 4 to June 3, 2022.
The submission of nomination forms by political parties is scheduled as follows:
Presidential and National Assembly: 10th June to 17th June 2022
Governorship and state assemblies: 1st July to 15th July 2022
Africa Daily News, New York recalls that several groups had called on the President to sign the bill before February 22, 2022, in order to ensure that INEC would not need to change the date in conformity with the Act.
However, Buhari signed it on February 25, 2022 after previously refusing assent to the bill four times.
The recent adjustment to the calendar means that political parties would now have to conduct their primaries before June 3rd 2022 ahead of the July 15th deadline for the submission of names.
The development means that political activities in the country might now be taken a more serious turn in the coming days.
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
