Nigeria Electoral Commission has announced the rescheduling of the general elections.

The Independent National Electoral Commission has announced the rescheduling of the general elections from February 14 and 28 to March 28 and April 11.

The Chairman of the commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, stated this at a press briefing in Abuja Saturday night.

He said the decision was taken after several consultations with political parties, civil society organisations, members of the Council of State, INEC national commissioners and resident electoral commissioners.

With the shift, the Presidential and National Assembly elections originally scheduled for February 14 will now hold on March 28 while the governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections earlier fixed for 28 February will take place on April 11.

Jega said the decision to shift the elections was a difficult one, but added that it had to be taken because of the security implications of holding the election without the support of security agencies.

He said while the commission was ready to conduct the elections, the input of the security agencies was important.

He said, “Whatever the commission does may not be sufficient to guarantee the success of elections. There are others like security which is not under the control of INEC.

“On Thursday, February 5, I was invited to brief the Council of State on the level of preparedness to conduct the elections. I have detailed account of what the commission had been doing for the readiness of the elections.

“The summary of my presentation was that for matters under the control of INEC, the commission was ready for the elections despite the challenges of PVCs and we have been doing all we could do for that.”

He said that in the delivery of materials, INEC was ready for the election. He, however, stated that the commission was handicapped in some areas.

He said, “But there are other variables that are not under the control of INEC, which is security. While the commission has a good relationship with security agencies, it has become necessary for us to listen to the advice of the security agencies. We are an electoral body not a security agency. We rely on them to provide security for us.”

Because of the security agencies’ advice, he said it would not be wise for the commission to go ahead with the elections.