How time flies! The beauty of democracy is regular elections. Disgruntled persons who raised fire and brimstone when they lost elections in 2015 in Nigeria now have another chance. In less than a year, those elected into offices that year will bow out of office. And new politicians will move in. As they say in the barracks, Soldier come, soldier go, Barrack remain.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has announced that presidential and National Assembly elections will be held on Saturday, February 16, 2019. The commission, which made the announcement last Tuesday while outlining the 2019 general election timetable, said the primaries for the Presidential and National Assembly will begin in August while the campaigns will commence in November, this year.
The statement endorsed by the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu, on the organization’s website says elections for Governors, members of State Houses of Assembly and other local offices will take place on March 2, 2019.
President Muhammadu Buhari beat incumbent Goodluck Jonathan in the March 2015 presidential election. But it is not clear if General Buhari, who spent considerable time abroad on medical treatment in 2017, will be seeking re-election.
The 2019 vote will be the sixth presidential election in Africa’s most populous nation since the military finally quit the political stage in 1999.
