We’re good to go, says INEC, publishes notice of poll

The Independent National Electoral Commission on Monday published the Notice of Polls for the 2023 General Election.

INEC also did a self-audit of its preparations for the polls and declared that it was good to go.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu made the declaration when he received in audience the President and Chief Executive Officer CEO of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems IFES, Mr Anthony N. Banbury.

So far, the Commission has successfully implemented 12 out of 14 activities in the Timetable and Schedule of Activities

Section 44 of the Electoral Act 2022 (as amended) provides that the Notice of Polls must be published not later than 14 days before the election cause to be published, a notice specifying the date and hours fixed for the poll; the persons entitled to vote; and the location of the polling units.

“This meeting is holding today when we are implementing the 12th activity – the Publication of the Notice of Polls – meaning that we have so far successfully implemented 12 out of 14 activities on schedule.

“So, there are only two activities outstanding. The first one is the end of campaign by political parties, which by law is 24 hours before polling day, which is going to be on the 23rd of February for the Presidential and National Assembly elections and the 10th of March for the States governorship and States Assembly, and then, the election day proper, which is on the 25th of February for the Presidential and National Assembly and on the 11th of March for the state elections,” he stated.

The INEC chairman added that the technological innovations for the elections had been tested and that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, would again be tested this Saturday in a nationwide mock accreditation exercise.

He said, “The preparation has gone on very well. And then with the benefit of the new Electoral Act, we have more time to prepare than our predecessors had in the past.

“We are working with the National Union of Road Transport Workers to make sure that we get logistics right so that we deploy personnel and materials to locations early enough so that we can open the polling units, conclude the processes at the polling units and quickly declare the outcome of the elections, as decided by Nigerians swiftly. The earlier we conclude the processes, the speed with which we also declare winners and conclude the processes.”