Update: February 23 presidential election; Governance March 9

The Independent National Electoral Commission has decided to postpone the presidential and national elections from Saturday to next week, 23 February.

Elections for the Regional Council and FCT Regional Council members were also postponed from March 2 to 9.

Professor Mahmood Yakubu, President of INEC, confirmed the move of the presidential election, attributing the postponement of all scheduled elections to logistical and operational issues.

He added that the postponement would give the commission the opportunity to address the identified challenges in order to maintain the quality of the elections in Nigeria.

Postponement of the election comes after more than six hours of meeting between the INEC President, Professor Mahmood Yakubu and twelve National Commissioners in Abuja.

The meeting, which began Friday night, ended early Saturday.

Professor Yakubu said the CENI would meet all stakeholders on Saturday at 2 pm at the International Conference Center in Abuja to explain the commission's position.

Rotimi Oyekanmi, chief press secretary to the INEC president, had suggested to journalists that some decisions concerning the elections had been taken and that the decision would be communicated later.

"I can confirm that the president of the INEC and the 12 national commissioners are present.

"Decisions have been made and will be sent to you later," Oyekanmi said.

Presidential and National Assembly elections were scheduled to take place throughout the country today, while elections for the governor and state badembly were scheduled for 2 March.

The national elections are expected to be held in 119,973 polling stations across the country, while the results will be gathered in 8,809 registration areas or constituencies, 774 local government areas, 36 states and the FCT.

This will not be the first time that the commission will postpone an anticipated general election.

In 2015, the presidential election pbaded from February 14 to March 28, 2015; while the elections of governors and bademblies scheduled for February 28 have been postponed to April 11.

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