STATEMENT AT A PRESS CONFERENCE BY THE HONOURABLE CHAIRMAN OF THE INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION (INEC), PROFESSOR MAHMOOD YAKUBU, ON THE RELEASE OF THE TIMETABLE AND SCHEDULE OF ACTlVITIES FOR THE 2023 GENERAL ELECTION HELD AT THE CONFERENCE ROOM, INEC HEADQUARTERS, ABUJA, ON SATURDAY 26TH FEBRUARY 2022
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press. 1. As you are aware, yesterday, Friday 25th February 2022, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria signed the Electoral Bill 2022 into law. This is historic being the fourth time since the restoration of democracy in Nigeria in May 1999 that the Electoral Act was repealed and re-enacted. The 1998 - 1999 elections were administered by transitional decrees until the 2001 Electoral Act was passed into law. Then, the Act was repealed and re-enacted as the Electoral Act 2002 which was in turn repealed and re-enacted in 2006, 2010 and now we have the 2022 Electoral Act. 2. You may recall that in 2017, the Commission decided to establish fixed dates for General Elections in Nigeria. This decision was based on our determination to create certainty in the electoral calendar and to enable all stakeholders in the electoral process (the electoral commission, political parties and candidates, security agencies, obser...