INEC Dares Senate, Insists Presidential Election Will Hold First

The Independent National Electoral Commission on Monday insisted that the presidential election will hold first during the series of elections in 2019.

The National Assembly had after INEC released the timetable for the 2019 general election reordered the polls, saying the presidential election will hold last.

It had since sent the Bill to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent.

By INEC’s timetable, the presidential and National Assembly elections would hold on February 16, 2019, while the governorship, state assembly and area council elections in the Federal Capital Territory would take place on March 2, 2019.

Speaking with newsmen on Monday, the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said INEC would be sticking to its timetable.

Yakubu said this at the quarterly consultative meeting of the commission with the media in Abuja.

He said the commission would continue to prepare for elections based on its own schedule since it could not make plans based on speculation.

When asked if the electoral body would challenge the matter in court, the INEC boss said when the time comes the commission would take a decision.

Yakubu said: “There are many ‘ifs’ but here, we deal with certainty.

“As far as the commission is concerned, there is no legal lacuna at the moment.

“What we have done is on the basis of the existing law and nothing has changed.

“If the bill is accented to, we will look at the provisions and inform Nigerians on the next step.

“But as far as the commission is concerned at the moment, we are operating under the existing law and we have issued a timetable for the activities accordingly.

“If something happens tomorrow, we will examine it and proceed accordingly.”