Nigeria: Postponement of Nigeria’s National Assembly Election
By Own Correspondent – The National Assembly election in Nigeria scheduled for Saturday was postponed following late arrival of sensitive election materials.
The Chairman of the country’s Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor AttahiruJega, who announced the postponement of the the election in an international news conference in Abuja, the nation’s capital on Saturday, said the election will hold on Monday the fourth of April 2011.
Professor Jega who apologized to Nigerians for the postponement, reiterated INEC’s determination to conduct a free,fair and credible elections accepted responsibility for the delay in the dispatch of election materials.
Meanwhile, mixed reactions have trailed the postponement of the National Assembly election.
While some said it was regrettable, others believed that the election was better postponed since many areas in the country did not get the materials early.
However,in some polling booths across the country accreditation was in progress while voting had commenced in some centers in Lagos and elsewhere in the country.
In his reaction, President Goodluck Jonathan said it was regrettable while appealing to Nigerians to exercise Patience with the INEC over the postponement.
Speaking in his home town Otoeke, Bayelsa State , whee would have he went to caste his vote, President Jonathan said that the best thing was to make sure that the election was carried out in the proper way.
He restated his conviction that the country was capable of conducting credible elections.
In a related development, the Governor of Lagos State, BabatundeFashola, also appealed to residents of Lagos and other Nigerians to take the postponement of the National Assembly elections calmly. while saying that the political parties should have been consulted before the the decision was taken.
Governor Fahola urged security agencies to continue to be on full alert.
Meanwhile, INEC has assured that the postponement in yesterdays National Assembly election will be resolved before tomorrow the new date for the election.
