Why we changed order of 2019 general elections - Senator Shehu Sani (Details, pics)

The National Assembly recently amended the Electoral Act to change the order of 2019 general elections’ time table.

This came barely a month after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) released the time table for the general elections.

With the amendment, the National Assembly election is to hold first, followed by gubernatorial and state assembly polls and presidential election to be conducted last. While the debate on the NASS decision is still on, Senator Shehu Sani (APC, Kaduna Central) has given the reason why the decision was taken.

“We changed the sequence of elections so as to give all political parties a level playing ground during elections. “The new sequence will arraign each candidate, alone in the dock before "Justice Electorate".“The new sequence will prevent mass trial,mass conviction,mass acquittal and mass burial of candidates or politicians,” the senator wrote on his Facebook page on Thursday, February 8.

Meanwhile, the European Union on Thursday, February 1, re-affirmed its commitment to supporting Nigeria’s electoral process with the launch of a programme aimed at promoting transparent, inclusive and credible elections in the country.

The programme tagged EU Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN), is a €26.5 million (over N11 billion) initiative.