INEC postpones governorship and state assembly elections to March 18

The elections for governor and state assemblies have been postponed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The elections, which were originally planned to take place on March 11, have been moved to March 18, 2023. 

The delay results from the commission's inability to start reconfiguring the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines as soon as possible to make them usable for the state elections. This election was held on February 25.

INEC was previously prohibited from altering the data stored on the BVAS devices until a proper inspection had been carried out and Certified True Copies (CTC) had been given to candidates contesting the results of the presidential election.

 On the basis that it needed to modify the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) in order to conduct the elections this Saturday, the commission persuaded the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal to modify the order granting Peter Obi of the Labour Party and Atiku Abubakar of the PDP permission to inspect the election materials.