The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has
fixed March 9 to conduct supplementary presidential election in areas where the
poll was cancelled last Saturday.
Festus Okoye, INEC’s national commissioner for information
and voter education, said the supplementary polls will be conducted alongside
the governorship and state houses of assembly elections.
He also said supplementary national assembly would hold on
the same day.
Okoye said the decision was reached during the commission’s
meeting with resident electoral commissioners (RECs) on Thursday in Abuja.
INEC had cancelled the presidential elections in some areas
as a result of violence, which prevented the commission from deploying
personnel and materials for the exercise.
Some of the places affected include two local government
areas in River state as well as other parts of Lagos and Anambra states.
“Consequently, the meeting decided that supplementary
elections will be conducted in all areas where elections did not take place
and/or where returns could not be made on Satutday, 9th March 2019 alongside
the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections,” Okoye said in a
statement issued Friday.
“The meeting acknowledged the delays in the commencement of
elections in a number of polling units which necessitated the extension of the
closing of polls in the affected areas.
“The Commission is determined to rectify the identified
challenges before the elections on 9th March.”
It is not yet clear what if the supplementary elections will
affect the results of the election already announced.
It is, however, unlikely the number of registered voters in
areas where the supplementary presidential elections will be conducted is up to
the margin with which President Muhammadu Buhari used to defeat Atiku Abubakar.
Buhari, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) got
15,191,847 votes while Atiku of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) got
11,262,978 votes.
Festus Okoye and Rotimi Oyekanmi, INEC
spokesman,could not be reached to comment on this but they were yet to respond to inquiries made
when this report was filed.
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