Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, has ruled out any possibility of allowing political parties to campaign before the rescheduled date of the general election.
Yakubu spoke during the briefing at the International Conference Centre, Abuja over the postponement of the general election on Saturday where chieftains of political parties and other stakeholders were present.
During the question and answer session at the briefing, Yakubu was asked if the parties could campaign in the remaining days before the election to continue to mobilise the electorate ahead of the new date.
“No,” the INEC boss replied. “Campaign is not allowed. My simple answer to this, and the person who asked the question should know as a politician, that no political actors are silent.”
Explaining his position earlier on the chances of campaigning and collection of the Permanent Voters Cards before the new date of the election, he said campaigns ended on Thursday and it remained so.
He added that the chances of collecting PVCs would not be reopened because the commission would need to give a breakdown of the number of PVCs collected and mop up the remaining for safe keeping.
His words: “Campaign closed at midnight on Thursday. And for the period that remains, campaigns will remain closed. All the other processes as provided for in the main time table and schedule of activities will remain imposed, including the collection of PVCs.
“Remember we promise that we are going to give you a complete breakdown of the number of PVCs collected and then mop up and warehouse the uncollected PVCs in the Central Bank until after the election, when collection will resume and the registrations of new voters.
“So, what remains is to take the six steps outlined in my written statement so that we conclude this election on Saturday.”
INEC announced the postponement of the general election Saturday morning when it was scheduled to commence.
The announcement was made by Yakubu after a meeting to review the level of preparedness of INEC for a successful conduct of the election.
Following the development, the Presidential and National Assembly election scheduled for Saturday was shifted to February 23, 2019.
The Governorship and State House of Assembly election was also shifted to March 9 as against the March 2, 2019 earlier fixed.
