February 16, 2019
By Ijendu Iheaka
Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), Head of Public Affairs, in Abia State, Mr Bamidele Oyetunji on Saturday said INEC would implement fresh security measure to protect distributed election materials.
According to the Public Affairs head, the commission had distributed some materials across 17 local government areas of Abia prior to Saturday’s election before it was postponed.
Oyetunji disclosed this in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday after the INEC Chairman, Prof Yakubu Mahmood announced the postponement of the 2019 presidential elections.
He said that the commission would implement further security measures to ensure the materials now at the local government area ONEC office are not be tampered with.
“We told them to bring back only the card readers while the other materials will be in their custody.
“The materials are very safe, we are going to fortify our security systems”, he assured.
Oyetunji said that in Abia the election materials except the result sheets had earlier moved to the INEC offices in the various local governments in preparation for the election.
He enjoined journalists to help open the mind of Nigerians to enable them understand the challenges of the commission and the need which led to the postponement.
He said it was better to give Nigerians credible elections than a half hazard and doubtful one adding that commission had been battling some logistics challenges before now.
“Nigerians will understand when you journalists open their hearts and their minds that this is the situation we find ourselves in.
“From six months ago, we know that we had challenges, look at the time they passed the budget and when they released money.
“So we had logistics and operations problems of which we cannot just go on with the elections today”, he said.
This blog reports that in Abia state, the list of ad-hoc electoral staff in the local governments were not released in some local government areas like Osisioma LGA until midnight of Friday.
Reacting to the postponement, the Chairman, Aba branch of Civil Liberties Organization (CLO), Aba Dr Charles Chinekzi said the postponement was the height of leadership irresponsibility.
"The sudden announcement by INEC and Federal Government show their unseriousness towards meeting the vision of our nationhood.
“It is unbelievable that up till midnight when everyone, government agencies, security agencies, local and international media house were still talking about elections, suddenly INEC announcement the postponement of election.
"They have just demonstrated leadership irresponsibility and leadership criminality and Nigerians are not going to just swallow.
“For me I urge everyone to remain calm, calculative, vigilant and alert because this is our country and no one will make it better for us.
“On that 23rd of February, we shall still vote according to our conscience and our votes must count”, Chinekzi said.
Monday Nwanganga, a resident said God knows why He, God allowed it adding that some people had bad intentions for today’s election.
“He knows why he allowed it so that today is calm and cool and everyone with evil intentions concerning today have retreated with them.
“People who would have rigged the elections today have become paralysed and for those using their money to do it, the money they have spent today will now be a loss to them and they cannot bring such out again. We say let there be peace in Nigeria”, he said.
Ngozi Ebewe, an INEC ad-hoc staff at Osisioma local government said “This is a very big disappointment for Nigerians.
“Fixing an election which the country had been preparing for for almost three years now and coming to postpone it at the dying minute is very painful.
“They did not shift it by a day but by a whole week. For ad-hoc staff in Osisioma, the INEC office pasted their list by some minutes past 12 pm so that those people who applied and came to check their names could not go home to sleep.
“We are expected to sleep over again at the office next week. This does not show Nigeria has progressed. The nation should work on itself because this shows that it is behind even some African nations”, she said.
Ugochukwu Ahunanya, a Tricycle driver said the postponement was shocking to him because he slept yesterday having prepared to go vote on Saturday only to wake us and hear the news.
He lamented that the day was wasted for him and other residents stressing that next week, their family had scheduled the burial of their late brother hence no election will stop the burial.
“And by next week when they shifted it to, we have the burial of one of our brothers and shifting that burial will cost us much, so we must bury him that day. You can see for us no election”, he said.
He urged the government should get their acts right for another time’s sake and save Nigerian the huge embarrassment and losses this had caused them.
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