By Barring any last-minute change by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), official campaign activities by political parties ahead of the 2023 elections will commence this September.
It would be recalled that in February, INEC announced a new timetable and schedule of activities ahead of the next general polls, following the signing of the amended Electoral Act by President Muhammadu Buhari.
With the adjustment, the Presidential and National Assembly elections will hold on Saturday, February 25, 2023, while the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections will hold on Saturday, March 11, 2023.
But for political parties jostling for the elective positions, public campaign activities are expected to kick off exactly 150 days before the polling day and ends 24 hours prior to that day, as enshrined in Section 94(1) of the Electoral Act 2022.
On this note, Presidential and National Assembly campaigns begin on September 28, 2020, while Governorship and State Houses of Assembly campaigns are billed to commence on October 12, 2022.
Though 18 political parties are participating in the polls, there are four frontline candidates in the race for the nation’s top seat, namely Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) and Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP).
