The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has released the legal framework that will guide the 2023 general election.

INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, made this known in Abuja on Friday at a special meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) to review security arrangements for the Ekiti State governorship election.

The gubernatorial election has been slated for June 18, 2022.

Speaking at the meeting, Yakubu said INEC has concluded formal preparations for the polls with the presentation of the Regulations and Guidelines.

He said: “On several occasions, the Commission has assured Nigerians that we are finalizing the Regulations and Guidelines for the elections. I am glad to announce that the document is ready and will be presented to Nigerians shortly. The soft copy will be uploaded to our website with the link shared on our social media platforms.

“With the release of the Regulations and Guidelines today, and the publication of the Strategic Plan (SP) 2022-2026 and Election Project Plan 2023 earlier, the Commission has virtually concluded the planning processes for the 2023 General Election nine months ahead of the election.”

Yakubu added that the training manual will also be presented to Nigerians in the next couple of weeks, noting that the Commission will focus on election administration which includes logistics, training, voter education, technology, sensitization against vote-buying, inclusivity measures, and security.

He stressed that ICCES will continue to play a critical role while the Commission appreciates the support of all security agencies.

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Speaking on the Ekiti governorship election, the INEC boss said all the major activities that were supposed to be carried out at this stage have been successfully undertaken.

Yakubu stated: “I led a team of INEC National Commissioners to Ekiti State early this week to assess the Commission’s preparations for the elections.

“We visited our offices in several Local Government Areas, held meetings with our staff, had audience with the Council of Obas to solicit the support of their Royal Majesties for peaceful elections and met with the security agencies.

“We also observed the ongoing training of ad hoc staff and the deployment of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for mock accreditation of voters in some polling units across the three senatorial districts of the state.

“We will again return to Ekiti State shortly to meet with the stakeholders and for the signing of the Peace Accord by political parties and candidates under the auspices of the National Peace Committee,” he said.

He further noted that Commission has been making preparations for the Osun State governorship election, which has been scheduled to hold on July 16, 2022.

“As the Commission is getting ready for the Ekiti State Governorship election, we have also gone far with similar preparations for the Osun State Governorship election holding next month i.e. Saturday 16th July 2022,” Yakub added.

Speaking on the preparations for the 2023 general election, Yakubu said: “On this note, let me seize this opportunity to address two critical aspects of our preparations for the forthcoming general election.

“Nigerians may recall that the ongoing CVR started a year ago. For the first time, the Commission introduced online pre-registration as well as physical registration at designated centres.

“As the deadline for the suspension of the CVR i.e. 30th June 2022 approaches, long queues are building up, especially in some states in the South East, Lagos, Kano and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

“The Commission had anticipated the last-minute surge and therefore established additional centres and deployed more machines to register citizens,” the INEC chairman stated.

The Star