After a court judgment concerning voting machines used in tallying, Nigeria’s electoral commission said on Wednesday that a weekend gubernatorial election will be postponed for one week.
The so-called BVAS machines are at the center of a legal battle over last month’s contentious presidential election, which the governing APC party candidate won but the opposition believes was marred by significant manipulation.
With President Muhammadu Buhari stepping down in May after two terms, many Nigerians anticipated that a free and fair election would bring in a leader capable of addressing mounting insecurity and worsening poverty in Africa’s most populous country.
The main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party are disputing the election results, claiming that delays in voting in the February 25 presidential poll and issues uploading results through the BVAS should be probed.
A court earlier on Wednesday had rejected an opposition demand to halt the reconfiguring of BVAS so their teams could check for forensic evidence of ballot rigging.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said in a statement the court process had delayed its preparations for the Saturday vote for state governors.
“While the ruling of the tribunal makes it possible for the commission to commence the preparation of the BVAS for the governorship and state assembly elections, it has come far too late for the reconfiguration,” INEC said.
“We thank Nigerians and friends of Nigeria for their understanding as we continue to deal with these difficult issues.”
Election delays are not unheard of in Nigeria. In 2019, INEC delayed the presidential election by one week just hours before polling stations opened citing logistical problems.
INEC said the new governorship vote would take place on Saturday, March 18.
Ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate Bola Tinubu, a former Lagos governor, won 8.8 million votes in the race to succeed Buhari, with PDP’s Atiku Abubakar at 6.9 million and surprise third challenger Labour Party’s Peter Obi at 6.1 million.
In a bid to improve transparency, INEC introduced BVAS for the first time at the national level as well as its IReV, an online database for uploading results from local polling stations.
But some voters and opposition parties said huge delays in voting and failures in the system when uploading tallies allowed for ballot manipulation and disparities from what was counted locally.
Wednesday’s legal ruling was the first volley in what is expected to be a long legal battle over the results of the presidential election.
