The apex Igbo socio-cultural
organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo has described the postponement of the Feb. 16
presidential and National Assembly elections as a `rude shock’.
The organisation, however, said
that it would not draw conclusions on the matter yet until after the
stakeholders meeting slated by the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC) to clarify the circumstances.
The Assistant National Publicity
Secretary of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Mr Chuks Ibegbu disclosed this on Saturday in
Enugu while reacting to the shift in the dates of the general elections.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
reports that the electoral body arising from a meeting of its national
commissioners early hours of Saturday announced a shift in the dates of the
general elections.
The presidential and NASS
elections that were scheduled to hold on Feb. 16 were shifted to Feb. 23 while
the governorship and state houses of assembly elections that were slated for
March 3 were rescheduled to March 9.
The INEC in its preliminary
reports cited logistical challenges as the major reason for the shift in dates.
Ibegbu said that such uncertainty
in the implementation of plans was characteristic of human nature.
“Human activities are filled with
uncertainties. Therefore, we will not pre-empt INEC until they come out to give
us the full details of why the elections were shifted,” he said.
Ibegbu however, said that it was
regrettable that the elections did not go on as planned considering the fact
that the electoral body had told Nigerians of its readiness for the polls.
Meanwhile, the President of Civil
Rights Realisation and Advancement Network, Mr Olu Omotayo has said that the
sudden postponement was not good for the image of the country.
Omotayo said that much funds and
preparations by Nigerians may have gone into the presidential and NASS polls
only for the INEC to call it off at the last minute.
He said that many Nigerians
including election observers had travelled far and near in readiness for the
exercise only to wake up with the shocking news.
“The postponement of the
elections shows that INEC was not even ready in the first place. This is good
not for the image of the country,” he said.
Omotayo appealed to the electoral
body to put its house in order to ensure a smooth exercise in the new dates as
announced
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com