The Independent National Electoral Commission's Chairman Professor Yakubu Mahmud, says that the commission will not change the February 25, and March 11 dates for the 2023 General Elections. Adding that the commission is also ready for a run-off election if the need arises.

This was Yakubu's statement at Chatham House, London on Tuesday, January 17.

Yakubu, who denounced the spate of arson attacks on its facilities, stated that 50 facilities had been targeted in the past four years. However, Yakubu promised that the 2023 general elections would be held in spite of the attacks. He explained that the commission would have to continue rebuilding the burned facilities and replacing materials.

"We are going ahead to conduct the election as scheduled. There are no plans to postpone. Even though there are tremendous challenges and expectations of INEC, the Commission is a beneficiary of enormous goodwill in Nigeria and beyond. We can surmount the challenges and ensure elections continue to get better," he said.

Yakubu stated that the turnout was high for new registrations and that Nigerian voters are 16.7 million more than the rest of West Africa at the moment.

He said that Lagos had collected over 600,000 PVCs in the past month. However, he lamented the fact that the state still has the most uncollected cards. He stated that the majority of PVCs collected were from newly registered voters and that uncollected PVCs date back to 2015.

He spoke out about voters who were displaced by insecurity in the North East or North West. The Commission will conduct polls at camps for Internally Displaced Persons to ensure no one is left behind.

He stated that the commission would also conduct mock elections in select states to evaluate the technology to be deployed.

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