Nigeria’s electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has altered the 2023 Presidential election from February 18 to February 25, 2023, following the late signing of the Electoral Act by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The new date was announced by the Chairman of the commission, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, at a news conference in Abuja on Saturday.
He stated that 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.
Yakubu explained that the new date was necessary in order to conform with the provisions of the Electoral laws which stipulates that elections notice must be published at least 260 days to the elections
The INEC boss also added that the electoral guidelines will also be published in due course. The new Act obliges INEC to publish the notice of election at least 360 days to the polls.
Several pro-democracy and pressure 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. Buhari signed the bill after several rejections, on February 25, 2022.