Election reschedule: Oshiomhole demands public apology, insists timing of postponement wrong

*INEC blames it on logistics and sabotage, apologised to Nigerians, pledged uninterrupted polls

*Yakubu rules out paucity of funds, security challenge or external influence

Tunde Opalana, Abuja

The National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole took a swipe on the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu for announcing the rescheduling of 2019 elections at about 2.00 am of poll day. He went ahead to demand an unreserved apology from Yakubu and the Commission to all Nigerians whose aspirations were dashed. He asked INEC to own up to and take responsibility for series of wastages incurred by political parties and other stakeholders as well as millions of ordinary Nigerians. Oshiomhole made these comments at the meeting held between INEC and stakeholders at the International Conference Centre, Abuja on Saturday. The APC National Chairman said ” I am shocked, I am disappointrd. Why do you have to wait till 2.00am to announce the rescheduling. Why did INEC failed to announce the postponement 48 hours before the election to avert these collosal wastage suffered by all of us. “Why didn’t you inform us 24 hours earlier when you noticed you have issues with the weather and flight. “We have mobilised party agents to the 176,000 polling units across the country. This is a huge loss of money and human resources”, while he wondered who will be responsible for such loss. He said if the Electoral body has shelved the Saturday polls earlier enough, parties, observers, and other stakeholders “would have save a lot in terms of cost, inconvenience and shock”. Oshiomhole went on behalf of the APC to demand; apology to all Nigerians from Prof. Yakubu and insisted that it was wrong to announce the postponement at 2.00am on election day. He further counseled INEC to consult political parties as critical stakeholders before taking such decision in future. Reacting to Oshiomhole’s allegations, Prof Yakubu said the Commission as at 2.30am was still contemplating going ahead with the elections but was constrained by the fact that it will not be feasible to have a proper election. He said INEC management tried to salvage the situation but it was so unfortunate that it has to take the decision in the interest of the nation and democracy. Prof Yakubu accepted responsibility on behalf of the Commission for the unfortunate rescheduling and apologised to Nigerians and all concerned especially members of the International Community and Foreign observers present in the country. The chairman ruled out paucity of fund, security infringement or influence by persons or body outside INEC management as responsible for infringement. He, however, blamed it on logistic problem, mostly weather effect on schedule flights for deployment of election materials. Considering the population of the Nigerian voters and large mass area to be covered, Yakubu said INEC is one of the most efficient public institutions in Nigeria in term of service delivery. He said is therefore not unexpected that such a tremendous national mobilization of men and materials, INEC will encounter operational challenges but quick to admit the commission has its own fair share of such challenges. “There has been delays in delivering ballot papers and result sheets for the elections which is not unusual. However, I must emphasize that all the ballot papers and result sheets were ready before the elections despite the very tight legal timeframe for finalizing nomination of candidates and dealing with the spate of legal challenges that accompany it. ” Unfortunately, in the last one week. flights within the country have been adversely affected by bad weather. For instance, three days ago, we were unable to deliver materials to some locations due to bad weather. “We therefore had to rely on slow-moving long haulage vehicles to locations that can be serviced by air in spite of the fact that we created five zonal airport hubs Abuja (North Central), Port Harcourt (South South and South East). Kano (North West), Maiduguri and Yale (North East) and Lagos (South West) to facilitate the delivery of electoral logistics. ” Apart from these logistical challenges, we also faced what may well be attempts to sabotage our preparations. In a space of two week, we had to deal with serious fire incidents in three of our offices in Isiala Ngwa South Local Government Area of Abia State, Qu’an Pan Local Government Area of Plateau State and our Anambra State Office at Awka. ” In all three cases. serious disruptions were occasioned by the fire, further diverting our attention from regular preparations to recovery from the impact of the incidents. In Isiala Ngwa South, hundreds of PVCs were burnt, necessitating the reocompiling of the affected cards and reprinting in time to ensure that the affected voters are not disenfranchised. I am glad that all the cards were quickly reprinted and made available for collection by their owners”, said Yakubu. The chairman, however, further reaffirmed the commitment of the Commission to conducting free, fair and credible elections while promising that it will not conduct staggered elections and that no election will be inconclusive. ” In keeping with our promise to consolidate the gains of the last two electoral cycles, the Commission has conducted 195 rerun and off-season elections across the ecuntry since the last general elections. Most of these elections have been generally adjudged to show progxessive improvements in planning, execution and outcomes”, he added.