The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has announced dates
\nfor 2019 general elections.<\/p>\n
In a statement posted on its website Thursday<\/span><\/span>, the electoral commission \u201cTo that extent, the 2019 Presidential and National Assembly elections The commission also announced that 23 of its electoral officers being Read the full statement: The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has announced dates for 2019 general elections. In a statement posted on its website Thursday, the electoral commission said it was making the announcements…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56644,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nsaid it was making the announcements well ahead \u201cin order to ensure
\ncertainty in our dates for elections, and to allow for proper planning by
\nthe Commission, political parties, security agencies, candidates and all
\nstakeholders\u201d.<\/p>\n
\nwill hold on Saturday, 16th February 2019<\/span><\/span>, while the Governorship\/State
\nAssembly\/Federal Capital Territory Area Council Elections will hold on
\nSaturday 2nd March 2019<\/span><\/span>.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nprosecuted for various electoral offences will be placed on half salary
\nand will not report for duty pending the determination of their respective
\ncases by the court.<\/p>\n
\nGentlemen of the Press,
\nYou are all welcome to yet another briefing, which is in fulfillment of
\nour pledge to regularly brief the public on the Commission\u2019s activities.
\n1. Our democracy is maturing and the Commission believes that there should
\nbe certainty with regard to the timetable for elections. For instance, in
\nthe United States, general elections always hold on the second PRESS
\nTuesday<\/span><\/span> of November in the election year. In Ghana, it\u2019s the 7th of
\nDecember of the election year, while in other places like Mexico, Norway,
\nSweden, Costa Rica and Switzerland, the In Nigeria, the constitution
\nprovides for elections to hold not earlier than 150 days and not later
\nthan 30 days to the end of the incumbent\u2019s tenure. In order to ensure
\ncertainty in our dates for elections, and to allow for proper planning by
\nthe Commission, political parties, security agencies, candidates and all
\nstakeholders, the Commission has decided to fix the date for the National
\nElections for the third Saturday<\/span><\/span> in February of the election year,
\nfollowed by State elections two weeks later<\/span><\/span>. To that extent, the 2019
\nPresidential and National Assembly elections will hold on Saturday, 16th
\nFebruary 2019, while the Governorship\/State Assembly\/Federal Capital
\nTerritory Area Council Elections will hold on Saturday 2nd March 2019<\/span><\/span>.
\n2. The Commission has also received a Report from the Director of Public
\nProsecution (DPP) of the Federation, informing us that 23 Electoral
\nOfficers indicted over the investigation into the 10th December<\/span><\/span> Rivers
\nRe-run elections have been charged to court. The Commission has repeatedly
\nsaid that it will cooperate with security agencies for the prosecution of
\nany of our staff found to have violated the integrity of the electoral
\nprocess. Accordingly, at our meeting today, the Commission decided to
\napply the provisions of the INEC Terms and Conditions of Service to all
\nthose charged to court, since it constitutes gross misconduct. The penalty
\nfor this is interdiction. All the 23 Electoral Officers will be placed on
\nhalf salary and will not report for duty pending the determination of
\ntheir respective cases by the court.
\n3. Ladies and gentlemen, you will recall that last week, we informed you
\nthat a decision would be taken this week on the recommendation by the
\nDisciplinary Committee on staff members indicted by the EFCC Report for
\nmisconduct during the 2015 General Elections. However, in view of the fact
\nthat some of the staff are also among those being prosecuted by the DPP,
\nthe Commission has decided to defer its decision on the EFCC Report to
\nenable us reconcile the EFCC\/DPP reports.
\n4. And as part of our routine consultations with our stakeholders, the
\nCommission has decided to hold the next regular quarterly meetings with
\nstakeholders as follows:
\nA. Tuesday 14th March<\/span><\/span> \u2013Meeting with Political Parties
\nB. Wednesday 15th March<\/span><\/span> \u2013 Meeting with Civil Society Organizations
\nC. Friday 17th March<\/span><\/span> \u2013 Meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee
\non Election Security (ICCES).
\nD. Monday March 21<\/span><\/span> \u2013 Meeting with Media organizations. Our invitations
\nhave been sent to the respective stakeholders
\n5. We wish to assure all Nigerians that the Commission will remain fully
\ncommitted to the sanctity of the electoral process and will never protect
\nany of its staff, no matter highly placed, found to have violated the
\nprovisions of the Electoral Act and our guidelines.
\nPrince Solomon Soyebi
\nNational Commissioner (In charge of South West)
\nMarch 9, 2017<\/span><\/span>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"