Nigeria postpones election for state governors

By Olanrewaju Kola

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AA) - Nigeria’s election commission has postponed the March 11 election for state governors, the country’s election commission said.

"The commission has taken the difficult but necessary decision to reschedule the governorship and state House of Assembly elections which will now take place on Saturday 18th March, 20123," Festis Okoye, an Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) official, said in a statement.

He said the commission may not have adequate time to reconfigure 176,000 election accreditation machines to be used in 774 local government areas (counties) across the country before March 11, the initial date for the second round of the poll.

On March 3, a court ordered the INEC to allow some political parties to have access to election materials used in the Feb. 25 presidential poll.

While accepting the court order, the electoral body also sought permission to reconfigure the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, or BVAS machines, ahead of the election for state governors, a request granted by the court on Wednesday.

The results of the elections, which showed candidate of the governing All Progressive Congress's Bola Tinubu the winner as declared by INEC, is being disputed by opposition parties.