The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has postponed the Presidential and National Assembly elections by one week.
The elections will now hold on February 23, 2019.
Also, the Governorship and State Assembly elections will now hold on March 9, 2019.
Chairman of the electoral body, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, said the decision to postpone the elections was taken after a careful review of the plan for the exercise.
Few hours to the commencement of the elections many states were yet to receive election materials, prompting the commission to convene an emergency meeting at which the decision to postpone was taken.
In Ekiti state, electoral materials had not arrived some areas as of 9pm. There were also issues in Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Niger, Akwa Ibom, Taraba and Rivers.
Announcing the postponement, Yakubu said: “Following a careful review of the implementation of its logistics and operational plan and the determination to conduct free, fair and credible elections, the commission came to the conclusion that proceeding with the elections as scheduled is no longer feasible.
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“Consequently, the commission has decided to reschedule the Presidential and National Assembly Elections to Saturday, 23 February 2019.
“Furthermore, the Governorship, State House of Assembly and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Council Elections is rescheduled to Saturday 9th March 2019. This will afford the Commission the opportunity to address identified challenges in order to maintain the quality of our elections.
“This was a difficult decision for the Commission to take, but necessary for the successful delivery of the elections and the consolidation of our democracy.”
The INEC Chairman said that the commission will hold a meeting with key stakeholders to update them on the development today (Saturday, February 16) by 2 pm.
