The Election Analysis Centre, EAC, of the Centre for Democracy and Development, CDD, has expressed shock over the postponement of Saturday’s election by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
The electoral umpire had shifted the presidential and parliamentary elections till February 23 while gubernatorial and State Houses of Assembly elections scheduled for March 2 was shifted to March 9.
Reacting to the shift, CDD urged INEC to ensure that the rescheduled polls are credible.
This was contained in statement signed by the Director of CDD, Idayat Hassan and Prof. Adele Jinadu, who leads the EAC.
CDD also urged Nigerians to come out en masse on Saturday and perform their civic responsibilities.
The statement reads: “Our surprise stems from repeated reassurances from INEC that it was fully ready to conduct the elections and that there was no possibility of postponement.
“We recognise that elections represent a huge logistical challenge, particularly as the 2019 elections is the largest in Nigeria’s history and the largest in Africa.
“However, we were hopeful that lessons from the 2011 and 2015 elections would have been learnt by 2019.”
The body also called on INEC to ensure it takes urgent steps to reassure Nigerian and the international community that it will be ready to conduct free, fair and credible elections on the new dates.
Expressing worry that certain sensitive materials had already been deployed in various parts of the country, the body urged INEC to urgently affirm to the public that these materials would be safe.
“We hope that INEC will take advantage of the extra time provided by the postponement of the elections to rapidly and robustly address any weaknesses in project management, logistics management and public communication.
“There is an urgent need to re-energise Nigerians to turn out to vote so as to avoid voter apathy, and we call on civil society and the media to assist in this process.”
Finally, it is asking Nigerians to not allow the postponement to stop them from turning out to cast their votes next week. “We also urge all members of the international community to keep faith with the Nigerian electoral process and to continue to support Nigeria in preserving what is, this year, twenty continuous years of democratic rule in Nigeria,” the statement read
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