While the election postponement by INEC has attracted mixed concerns from Nigerians and international observers, an NGO interested in good governance says there is nothing new about the development.
Policy Alert Programme Officer, Ms. Utibe Archibong said: “There is nothing new about postponement of elections. In 2015, there was a similar postponement for a few weeks. We see this purely as a logistic challenge. The law empowers INEC to postpone elections when there are challenges with materials or security. As an organisation, Policy Alert under the auspices of the Nigeria Civil Society Election Situation Room, has been observing the preparations and general scenario for the elections and we can say that there has been tremendous improvement in pre-election operations compared to 2015.
On Nigerians bitter outburst, Archibong who is the head of Democracy and Governance department of Policy Alert stated that the anger expressed by Nigerians is understandable.
“You cannot blame Nigerians for being suspicious when things like this happen considering where we’re coming from. And when you consider the cost in terms of movement of people to their constituencies to vote, many of of who even travelled back to Nigeria to exercise their franchise, it can be painful. But to get it right with our democracy, we must be ready for some sacrifices.
“Let’s not forget that at least 3 INEC offices have been gutted by fire over the last one week. We heard of the killing of over 66 persons in Kaduna. These issues have implications for the election and there is need to address them.
Archibong, whose core advocacy include open participatory governance and transparency, advised INEC to perfect in its art as electoral umpire to earn the people’s trust.
“We call on INEC to use the window of this postponement to get their logistics and operations right as any further postponement may be interpreted by Nigerians as calculated sabotage.”
However, the Uyo based NGO solicits Nigerians cooperation with INEC to succeed in sustaining our democracy.
“We also call on all Nigerians to cooperate with INEC and not to be discouraged but come out on the stated dates to cast their votes and defend it.
“People are worried about sensitive materials that left the CBN yesterday, but we have it on good authority that they have all been returned to the CBN.”
