INEC says supplementary election will take place on March 9

The commission had been forced to cancel voting in certain areas of Rivers, Lagos and Anambra State due to violence when Nigerians trooped to the polls for the Presidential and National Assembly elections on Saturday, February 23, 2019.

In a signed statement released by INEC's chairman of information and voter education committee, Festus Okoye, on Friday, March 1, 2019, he said supplementary elections will take place for National Assembly seats and in areas where violence prevented the declaration and return of a candidate.

The decision was reached during the commission's meeting with resident electoral commissioners in Abuja on Thursday February 28.

Okoye said the meeting acknowledged cancellations in certain areas due to violence which prevented the commission from deploying personnel and materials for the elections.

He noted that elections were also not held in certain locations due to disruptions and deliberate non-compliance with the use of the Smart Card Reader (SCR), contrary to the INEC Regulations and Guidelines for conduct of elections.

"Consequently, the meeting decided that supplementary elections will be conducted in all areas where elections did not take place and/or where returns could not be made on Saturday, 9th March 2019 alongside the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections," the statement read.

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Editor's note: This article had originally claimed, in error, that INEC was to conduct a supplementary presidential election, despite the fact that a winner had been announced. The article has been edited to reflect INEC's true position after the commission issued a clarification.