For the third time, Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Thursday postponed the National Assembly (parliamentary) election in some constituencies in the country, but the election will still hold in most of the other constituencies. INEC Chairman Attahiru Jega told journalists in the capital city of Abuja that the Senatorial elections would not hold in 15 of the 109 Senatorial districts and 48 of the 360 House of Representatives constituencies. “This means that elections will take place this Saturday in 86 per cent and 87 per cent of both Senatorial and Federal Constituencies,” he said. Explaining why the National Assembly election will not hold in certain constituencies on Saturday, the INEC chair said: “Some challenges emerging from the fact that voting took place in some areas in spite of the postponement require more time than we had since last Saturday.
‘For example, in some areas, a good quantity of ballot papers had been used and is not possible to reprint enough replacement ballot papers before the elections. Also in a few constituencies, party names and logos were missing on the ballot papers.’
The outstanding National Assembly poll will be merged with the Governorship/State Assembly on 26 April.
Jega listed the Senatorial districts in which the election would not hold as Bayelsa Central, Benue North; Cross River South and Central Districts; Ebonyi North; all the three Senatorial Districts in Ekiti State; Gombe North; Kaduna North; Niger South; all the three Senatorial Districts in Plateau State and Sokoto North.
For Federal Constituencies, some local government areas in Southern Abia State such as Isiala Angwa North/South; in Southern Akwa Ibom State, Ukana/Ofun among others were affected.
The National Assembly election was postponed to Monday midway last Saturday, due to the late arrival of result sheet and some mistakes on the ballot.
INEC further postponed the election to Saturday, 9 April, when some opposition parties rejected Monday as the new date.
Jega said the commission is now ready to hold successful polls, with the National Assembly due to be followed by the Presidential poll on 16 April and the Governorship/State Assembly election on 26 April.
“Since the postponement of the elections on April 2nd, INEC has worked tirelessly towards addressing the challenges observed in the conduct of the re-scheduled elections.
‘Thus result sheets have not only been delivered to the country, but have been received by states and local government areas. Similarly, other election materials needed at the states and local government areas have also been supplied. Logistics challenges have been addressed and we have had further consultations with political parties, security agencies and other stakeholders to address other challenges that emerged last Saturday. Consequently, all is now set for the National Assembly elections to hold across the country this Saturday,’ he said.