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The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu, has assured Nigerians that the 2023 elections would hold as scheduled after a meeting with the Federal Executive Council, FEC, at the Council Chamber in Abuja.
The meeting was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Yakubu attended the weekly meeting to brief the council on the readiness of the electoral umpire amid fears that the elections may be scuttled by scarcity of fuel and new naira notes.
But with adequate supply of petrol by the Nigeria National Petroleum Limited, NNPC, and the pronouncement by the Supreme Court on Wednesday that the deadline for the use of old naira notes must not end on February 10 as set by the Central Bank, Yakubu assured that those issues have been addressed while speaking to journalists after the meeting.
“I can tell you two of these challenges quickly. The first one is the availability of petroleum products. We had a meeting with the National Union of Road Transport Workers and they raised that as an issue of concern.
“Immediately after that meeting, we interfaced with the leadership of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) and right now there’s a technical community working.
“The idea is for them to avail us the use of their over 900 land mega stations as well as floating mega stations nationwide for the purpose of stocking products to ensure that the commission doesn’t suffer any encumbrances in the movement of personnel and materials for the elections.
“The second one is the currency issue. Again, we had an engagement yesterday with the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. And he assured us that the commission will not suffer encumbrances on that score. Fortunately for us, all our accounts, national and state are with the apex bank.
“So, we raised those challenges and we have found a solution to those challenges.
“So, be rest assured that the elections will hold as scheduled on the 25th of February for the national and on the 11th of March for the state’s elections,” Yakubu said.
