There is no plan to postpone the 2019 general election, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has declared.
INEC made the declaration in response to a report that it could postpone the election as a result of violence.
In a statement by its Chief Press Secretary, Rotimi Oyekanmi, the commission said its chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, did not say that the election might be postponed.
He said Yakubu was wrongly on his statement at the Inter-agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) meeting held on Tuesday.
“It is common knowledge that the Osun State governorship election will hold on Saturday 22nd September, while the 2019 General Elections are only 156 days away,” he said.
He explained that at the meeting, Yakubu informed the security chiefs of the need to meet more often to assess the security situation across the country ahead of the elections so that steps could be taken to avert any form of violence before, during and after.
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He said he stressed that there would be need to ensure a safe environment for the conduct of the elections.
Oyekanmi said the INEC boss, stressing the need to ensure peace during election, only referred to Section 26 of the Electoral Act which empowers the commission to postpone the exercise in case of violence.
The reference to the section, Oyekanmi said, was only to stress the need for a peaceful election.
He said the INEC boss stated that the Osun State governorship election which holds on September 22 was its current most important assignment.
