INEC: Presidential, NASS elections hold first, says ‘Bill on election sequence mere speculation’

Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu, has declared that the Election Sequence Bill by the National Assembly “is a mere speculation”.
He insisted, at the commission’s quarterly consultative meeting with the media in Abuja on Monday, that Presidential and National Assembly elections will hold same day in 2019 while Governorship, House of Assembly and FCT elections will hold next.
INEC had announced last year that the presidential and National Assembly elections would hold on February 16, 2019 while the governorship, House of Assembly and Area Council elections in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) elections would hold on March 2.
The National Assembly, however, opposed the sequence of the election and amended the Electoral Act such that the National Assembly election would hold first while the presidential election would come last.
The bill has since been transmitted to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent.
But, Yakubu would have none of that.
To him, the commission would continue to prepare for elections based on its own schedule since it could not make plans based on speculation .
When asked if the electoral body would challenge the matter in court , the INEC boss said when the time comes, the commission would take a decision .
He said: “There are many ‘ifs ’ but here ,we deal with certainty . As far as the commission is concerned, there is no legal lacuna at the moment . What we have done is on the basis of the existing law and nothing has changed.
“If the bill is accented to, we will look at the provisions and inform Nigerians on the next step. But as far as the commission is concerned at the moment, we are operating under the existing law and we have issued a timetable for the activities accordingly.
“ If something happens tomorrow, we will examine it and proceed accordingly”.
Yakubu insisted that the budget for the 2019 elections had been drafted based on its own sequence and timetable.
He said the proposal would soon be transmitted to the National Assembly for approval .
“ Right now, the draft is on my table based on the current schedule of activities. Thereafter, we will submit it to the approving authorities”.