The National Legal Adviser of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Barr Emmanuel Enoidem has chided the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, for postponing the general elections.
Enoidem in a press statement made available on Saturday to journalists in Uyo said the postponement, barely 4 hours to scheduled time was “a monumental show of shame, gross embarrassment, compounded disgrace and most humiliating and damaging to our national image.”
He said it was unfortunate that the electoral umpire was unable to plan and conduct credible polls within a time frame of four years constitutionally given to it.
Expressing his displeasure further, Enoidem said, “This was why it was very heart warming when INEC almost 2 years ago came up with time schedule for the exercise. At every point from then till 3 am this morning, INEC had assured everyone who cared to listen that it was more than ready for the elections.
“The emptiness of the boast came to the fore at a very expensive cost when it was discovered just 5 hours to the elections that INEC had logistics problems (whatever that means) forcing the postponement of the elections.
“But how can INEC have logistics challenges when it had enough time to plan the elections? How can INEC had logistics challenges when the budget for the 2019 elections is the highest in the country since 1999?
“What’s really is the meaning of logistics in this context? Is it the inability to know the number of voters, voting units, their locations, the printing of elections materials, the transportation of same to the different locations?
“Can this be a reasonable excuse given the fact that INEC had more than enough time to carry out and execute all of these very ordinary very predictable responsibilities? I believe that this decision has negatively advertised, exposed and de-marketed us as a nation. It has shown how irresponsible the managers of our nation at this moment are.
“It will be recalled that few days ago the news came online that the office of the NSA had issued an advice to the presidency to postpone the elections ostensibly to avert an impending defeat.
“It is therefore impossible to separate the postponement of the elections under this very questionable and unjustifiable circumstances barely 5 hours to the scheduled time from this fear of defeat.
“I am convinced Prof Yakubu must have come under sphere pressure from the presidency to embark on this most ignoble, noxious and most demeaning decision. This is more because it is most implacable and implausible for failure of logistics to sustain this postponement.
“It is time for the Buhari/APC administration to come to an end. This govt has brought untold embarrassment, disappointment and national shame to this country in more ways that can’t be mentioned. This govt has taken us more than 50 fifty years backward.
“This postponement may have achieved the aim of postponing the humiliating defeat of Buhari for 7 days but it certainly will not avert the doom on 23/01/19. This is a debt he must pay as Nigeria and Nigerians can’t afford another of Buhari’s 4 years in power.
“This postponement comes with very high cost both in financial, socio/economic and psychologic terms. It is not as simple and innocuous as INEC wants us to believe. The nation will pay dearly for it. The candidates and their political parties have been wrecked financially, economically, spiritually and psychologically.
“This decision has made the political system just like any other aspect of our national life under the Buhari’s govt most unpredictable, most uncertain and plagued.
“It is indeed a show of shame that the culprits: INEC and the Buhari’s presidency must be made to pay for.”
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