By Baron Ike
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has dared the Senate on the time table for the general election in 2019 with the Chairman of the INEC, Mahmoud Yakubu, declaring that the Election Sequence Bill by the National Assembly “is a mere speculation”.
Yakubu said at the commission’s quarterly consultative meeting with the media in Abuja on Monday, that Presidential and National Assembly elections will hold same day in 2019 as proposed while Governorship, House of Assembly and FCT elections will hold next.
The INEC had announced last year that the presidential and National Assembly elections would hold on February 16, 2019 while the governorship, House of Assembly and Area Council elections in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) elections would hold on March 2.
But the National Assembly has faulted the arrangement of the election and amended the Electoral Act such that the National Assembly election would hold first while the presidential election would come last.
The bill has since been transmitted to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent but he is yet to deal with it.
Yakubu told reporters that what the National Assembly had done so far was speculative which he will not take..
He said the commission would continue to prepare for elections based on its own schedule since it could not make plans based on speculation.
Yakubu hinted that the electoral body would challenge the matter in court if the need arises, but that for now the Commission would take a decision.
Yakubu said: “There are many ‘ifs ’ but here ,we deal with certainty . As far as the commission is concerned, there is no legal lacuna at the moment . What we have done is on the basis of the existing law and nothing has changed.
“If the bill is accented to, we will look at the provisions and inform Nigerians on the next step. But as far as the commission is concerned at the moment, we are operating under the existing law and we have issued a timetable for the activities accordingly.
“ If something happens tomorrow, we will examine it and proceed accordingly”.
Yakubu insisted that the budget for the 2019 elections had been drafted based on its own sequence and timetable.
He said the proposal would soon be transmitted to the National Assembly for approval .
“ Right now, the draft is on my table based on the current schedule of activities. Thereafter, we will submit it to the approving authorities.”