National Council Of States Reject Election Postponement! Feb.14 Still Holds
The Council of State has decided to stick with Feb. 14 as the date for the presidential election, Imo state governor Rochas Okorocha told journalists in Abuja on Thursday (Feb. 5), allaying concerns that the polls might be postponed.
Okorocha told journalists,
The date remains Feb. 14, INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission) reassured us that they are prepared to conduct the election
National Security Advisor Sambo Dasuki caused outrage in opposition ranks last month by calling for a delay due to the slow distribution of voter I.D. cards.
President Goodluck Jonathan of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) will face former military ruler and main opposition candidate Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the election.
The APC has criticized calls for a delay, saying this would cast doubt on the election and arguing the PDP sought a postponement because it feared losing.
The Council of State is made up of the two presidential candidates, state governors, former presidents and electoral commission chairman Attahiru Jega.
A meeting insider who declined to be named said Jega briefed the council on the commission’s preparations and security measures taken because of the Islamist insurgency in the north. The insider said the council was satisfied with arrangements on both counts.
Last month INEC outlined red zones where no polling units could be set up. Internally displaced people will vote inside camps in Borno, the worst-hit state, while special centers will be set up in Yobe and Adamawa for voters stranded outside their constituencies.
Several APC senators said the four former Nigerian presidents at the meeting – Ibrahim Babangida, Abdulsalami Abubakar, Ernest Shonekan and Shehu Shagari – opposed PDP calls for a delay.
“They (the PDP) were adamant they wanted to delay … The former heads of state persuaded them in the end that they must not,” said APC Senator Babafemi Ojudu, who did not attend.
On Wednesday, INEC said it had distributed 44 million PVC cards out of 68.8 million, with just 10 days to go.
Source: Reuters