Why did they Postpone the Elections?

 When Obasanjo complained that INEC was not ready for elections in Nigeria people said he has started again. In his press release in January, he said: ”I personally have serious doubts about the present INEC’s integrity, impartiality and competence to conduct a fair, free and credible election,”.

Beginning of February, Festus Okoye of INEC explained that ballot papers for the election and other sensitive materials were ready.

He said: “The commission has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with transport workers unions for the deployment and retrieval of election personnel and materials in a safe and timely manner. Resident electoral commissioners have also met with the unions in the transport sector and are perfecting issues relating to deployment and retrieval of materials in conjunction with the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC).

“All the state offices and local government offices of the commission are taking delivery of non-sensitive materials. The commission has delivered the bulk of the non-sensitive materials required for the conduct of the elections to states and local governments, while the remaining are in the zonal stores of the commission and will be distributed at the appropriate time.

After all said, we got the strange message that has put Nigeria in the NEWS in the eyes of the International community:

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) met on Friday, 15th February 2019 and reviewed its preparations for the 2019 General Election scheduled for Saturday, 16th February 2019 and Saturday, 2nd March 2019.

Following a careful review of the implementation of its logistics and operational plan and the determination to conduct free, fair and credible elections, the Commission came to the conclusion that proceeding with the elections as scheduled is no longer feasible.

Consequently, the Commission has decided to reschedule the Presidential and National Assembly Elections to Saturday, 23rd February 2019. Furthermore, the Governorship, State House of Assembly and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Council Elections is rescheduled to Saturday 9th March 2019. This will afford the Commission the opportunity to address identified challenges in order to maintain the quality of our elections.

This was a difficult decision for the Commission to take, but necessary for the successful delivery of the elections and the consolidation of democracy.

The Commission will meet key stakeholders to update them on this development at 2p.m. on Saturday, 16th February 2019 at the Abuja International Conference Centre.