Africa
10:13, 17-Feb-2019
Nigeria's presidential election postponed due to logistical factors: commission
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Nigerian authorities postponed Saturday's national election by a week citing logistical factors, with the electoral commission denying political pressure had played any part in the decision.
President Muhammadu Buhari and his rival, former vice president Atiku Abubakar, both urged voters to stay calm.
Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), attributed the decision to delays in transporting electoral materials. "(The postponement) has nothing to do with security, nothing to do with political influence, nothing to do with the availability of resources," he told a gathering of foreign election observers and reporters.
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He said some sensitive election materials had been distributed but all had been retrieved and returned to the central bank and an audit would now be conducted. In Nigeria, the central bank stores election materials for safe keeping.
Yakubu said the election would now be held on February 23, adding that the date was "sacrosanct" and that campaigning would be suspended until then.
Nigerians expressed dismay and anger over the delay, "I spent my money, my time, my energy for the elections, so actually I am not happy," student Dauru Balarab said in President Buhari's hometown of Daura in northern Nigeria.
A police officer monitors boxes full of ballots for the Nigerian elections at Aba South Local Government office, February 16, 2019. /VCG Photo
A police officer monitors boxes full of ballots for the Nigerian elections at Aba South Local Government office, February 16, 2019. /VCG Photo
The delay also prompted the opposition candidate to accuse President Muhammadu Buhari of seeking to "disenfranchise" voters.
"They (the government) are not following the rule of law... This is a total ploy, it is not true that they are not ready," said opposition supporter Oscar Humphrey, 37, in the northern city of Kano, a key battlefield in the presidential race.
Buhari, in power since 2015, faces a tight election contest against Atiku of the People's Democratic Party (PDP).
(Cover: Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Mahmood Yakubu speaks during a meeting with stakeholders and international election observers on the postponement of Nigeria's general elections in Abuja, February 16, 2019. /VCG Photo)
Source(s): Reuters