The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) last night announced the postponement of the presidential and National Assembly elections because of unavoidable challenges.
The elections are now billed to hold next Saturday.
The challenges, according to the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahood Yakubu, include logistics, poor weather, fire incidents and allegedly overwhelmed Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
In a television broadcast early this morning, Yakubu said: “Following a careful review of the implementation of its logistics and operational plan and the determination to conduct free, fair and credible elections, the Commission came to the conclusion that proceeding with the elections as scheduled is no longer feasible.
“Consequently, the Commission has decided to reschedule the Presidential and National Assembly Elections to Saturday, 23rd February 2019. Furthermore, the govemorship, state House of Assembly and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) area council elections is rescheduled to Saturday 9th March 2019.
“This will afford the Commission the opportunity to address identified challenges in order to maintain the quality of our elections.
“This was a difficult decision for the Commission to take, but necessary for the successful delivery of the elections and the consolidation of our democracy.
“The Commission will meet key stakeholders to update them on this development at 2pm on Saturday, l6th February 2019 at the Abuja International Conference Centre.”
The Nation gathered that although there is a window for INEC to stagger the conduct of the polls, Prof. Yakubu insisted on a tidier process than a haphazard format.
Out of the three options available to INEC, it chose the postponement of the polls because that has “lesser risks.”
The three options were staggered conduct of the presidential and National Assembly elections nationwide; adjustment of voting hours in some states or outright postponement of the elections.
The last-minute decision to postpone the polls caught President Muhammadu Buhari, his arch-rival ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and 71 other presidential candidates unawares.
A top source who spoke in confidence said: “As at noon on Friday (yesterday), INEC was still battling with the logistics of moving sensitive materials to about 10 out of the 36 states, especially the ballot papers, which are the most sensitive.”
The source added: “The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is overwhelmed by the eleventh hour distribution of the materials. What compounded the logistics problem is bad weather which really affected the shipping of these materials from the vaults of the apex bank.
“For instance, the sensitive election materials for Enugu State were airlifted on Thursday, but due to bad weather, the aircraft could not land.
“After about two hours of hovering in the airspace in Enugu, the plane was later diverted to Port Harcourt.
“INEC later made arrangement to move the materials with trucks to Enugu, which was a bit slow.
“To demonstrate transparency, INEC ensured that representatives of political parties and other stakeholders were at the loading points. The materials are ready but they cannot be airlifted.”
Responding to a question, the source added: “The fire incidents in some states like Anambra, Abia and Plateau states also contributed to the postponement of the polls.
“In one of the states, about 4,695 smart card readers were burnt. Although arrangements were made to replace these cards, there was need for backup in case of technical hitches.
“In the case of Plateau State, the INEC office affected by fire had to be relocated with its own logistic implications.”
Giving further insight into other problems associated with logistics, the source added: “The ballot papers and other sensitive materials for Taraba State were loaded at the CBN office in Yola on Friday afternoon. But while the vehicle was making its way out of Yola, it broke down.
“We could not get materials to Ado-Ekiti in Ekiti State until very late on Friday. It became unrealistic to be able to distribute to all polling units before dawn for the poll.
“The poll items for Niger East arrived the CBN office in Minna late, leading to rumours that they were missing.
“In another instance, result sheets meant for Edo were shipped to Rivers State.
“It was obvious that we needed time to sort out things.
“This was what the INEC chairman spent much time explaining to stakeholders. He gave the situation report in a frank manner.
“Opinions were divided at the meeting. Some wanted a shift of the poll by a week, others favoured Monday or Tuesday.”
Findings however revealed that INEC’s initial major problem was how to convey the postponement to stakeholders, especially political parties and the candidates, after weighing the three options.
Another source said: “Following the constraints, there were three options available to INEC, including staggered conduct of the presidential and National Assembly elections nationwide; adjustment of voting hours in some states and postponement of the elections by two or three days to put all the states and candidates on the same scale.
“When security implications of the options were weighed, the choices of staggered and adjustment of poll timing were rated as “grave” and untidy.
“The Chairman of INEC, Prof. Yakubu, vehemently rejected staggering the conduct of the elections and adjustment or extension of polling hours in some states because these options can muddle up the electoral process.
“Instead, he tabled a proposal to postpone the elections by two or three days before his team of National Commissioners and the Secretary to the commission.
“What INEC decided to do was to lay all the cards on the table by inviting representatives of political parties, local and international observers to explain its constraints before going public with the shift of the poll by some days.
“The essence of the slight postponement was to enable all the states to have full complement of all the required logistics and back up.”
The source said: “After earning the confidence of all the stakeholders, INEC chairman was mandated to make a national broadcast to explain its dilemma and appeal for restraint.
“We are relying on Section 26(1) of the Electoral 2010, as amended and applicable in 2015 amendment, to shift the poll.
Section 26(1) of the Electoral 2010 (As Amended), says: “Where a date has been appointed for the holding of an election, and there is reason to believe that a serious breach of the peace is likely to occur if the election is proceeded with on that date or it is impossible to conduct the elections as a result of natural disasters or other emergencies, the Commission may postpone the election and shall in respect of the area, or areas concerned, appoint another date for the holding of the postponed election, provided that such reason for the postponement is cogent and verifiable.”
“The President, the PDP candidate Atiku and others were not informed until after the stakeholders had been briefed.
“All these candidates had gone to their respective states to cast their votes without any inkling of the shift.
“It is no doubt shocking, but all the parties and candidates have no choice but to abide by the decision of the umpire,” another top source added.
A few days ago, the INEC National Commissioner in charge of Information and Voter Education, Mr. Festus Okoye, assured the nation that the commission will not shift the poll under any guise.
He said: “INEC will be open and transparent throughout the entire election process. We are going to be upfront with information relating to our processes and our procedures.
“Where ever we have challenges, we are going to be honest with the Nigerian people relating to our challenges.
“In relation to this particular elections, we had some challenges yesterday (Tuesday), but we were able to recover, and as I speak, we are moving all the Smart Card Readers required for the conduct of elections in Anambra State and we are not going to postpone the election in any part of Nigeria on the grounds of some of these challenges.
This is the second time INEC will shift the conduct of poll in four years.
The electoral commission on February 7, 2015 shifted the conduct of the last general elections by six weeks to allow the military to secure the North-East from Boko Haram attacks.
The elections, scheduled for February 14 and 28, were later held on March 28 and April 14.
In 2011, the National Assembly elections were postponed by Prof. Attahiru Jega few hours after the commencement of the presidential election, due to non-availability of materials in many states.
Jega, in a broadcast, apologised to the nation for the logistic challenges and announced a postponement by 24 hours.
Jega had blamed the postponement of the elections on late arrival of election materials, especially result sheets in many parts of the country.