The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has lifted ban on Political campaigns.
Announcing this in a statement, the National Commissioner with the INEC and Chairman, Committee on Information and Voter Education, Mr Festus Okoye said that the commission has lifted the ban till Thursday 21th February 2019.
Earlier on political parties participating in the 2019 general elections had blatantly said they will defy the directive of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that they should stop campaigns after the postponement of the presidential and National Assembly elections on Saturday morning.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, had stated on Saturday while giving reasons for the postponement of the elections, that campaigns had ended on Thursday.
But the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), on Sunday said they would never obey the order, insisting that they will continue with the campaign.
Kwankwaso said: “Nobody asked that the elections should be delayed. So, since the elections have been postponed, they (INEC) should allow everybody to campaign.
“Everybody knows that what the electoral law says is that campaigns can continue until 24 hours to the elections so, since the elections have been postponed by one week, political parties should continue with their campaigns.”
Kwankwaso also said that nobody was happy with the postponement and their prayer is that the same should not happen again on Saturday.
The PDP, on their part, stated that they had taken the decision to re-open the campaign after thorough consideration of the Election Act provision.
PDP Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan said: “Our position is predicated on the clear provision of Section 99 (1) of the Electoral Act, which stipulated that “for the purposes of this Act, the period of campaigning in public by every political party shall commence 90 days before polling day and end 24 hours prior to that day.
Their statements came after the INEC chairman postponed the elections, which were to be held last Saturday citing logistical challenges.
