Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has said it will not postpone the 2019 general elections because of the delay in the passage of its budget.
Yakubu made the clarifications known while fielding questions from State House correspondents on Friday in Abuja.
According to him, there was no provision under the law for postponement of elections.
“I have said this over and over again; there are no conditions under which elections should be postponed, under section 26 of the Electoral Act.
The INEC chairman said under his leadership, the commission has been very transparent, adding that this is the first time in the history of the country that citizens would know the line by line expenditure of the commission.
We issued the timetable way in advance for the very first time in the history of our nation, citizens of Nigeria know when elections will take place one year in advance. It has never happen before, he said
“Secondly, also for the very first time in the history of our country, that citizens know the budget of the electoral commission, that budget has never been defended before the national assembly, as citizens know line by line how much the commission proposed, what the money is going to be spent on, I think I am very happy with this process.”
He said as of Friday, 12.1 million people had been registered for the 2019 polls.
The INEC chairman said the newly registered Nigerians would be added to the existing 70 million voters.
