The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Mahmood Yakubu, has declared that the commission is overburdened, and requires a national discourse on the management of elections.
He made the declaration on Saturday while speaking at the briefing held with party leaders and other major stakeholders in Abuja over the postponement of the general election.
The general election which was billed to start with the one for the Presidency and National Assembly on Saturday was postponed to February 23, 2019.
Yakubu blamed the postponement on inadequate preparedness bordering on logistics.
But responding to questions during the interactive session at the briefing, Yakubu said INEC was too overburdened hence the need to hold a national discourse on how to address the issues associated with the problem.
The INEC boss said apart from conducting elections, the commission was managing the entire democratic system of the nation.
He said the enormity of the task given to INEC had become too cumbersome for him as a chairman and the 12 commissioners to cope with comfortably.
His words: “On the issue of INEC being overburdened, I think this is a discussion that the nation must hold after the 2019 general elections. 12 commissioners and a chairman are not only conducting election of Nigeria, but also managing the entire democratic system.
“I don’t know when last anyone of us had a decent sleep, but these are conversations we’ll have after the elections.
“What is important for us at the moment, despite the enormity of the challenges, we’ll continue to do what we can to deliver free fair and credible election in 2019….
“As I said, after the 2019 general election, this nation needs a conversation on the management of election. We’ll come back to it big time.”
