The National Peace Committee has called on Nigerians to accept the postponement of the general elections by the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) in good faith.
Speaking with journalists on Saturday in Minna on the development, the Chairman of the Committee, General Abdulsalami Abubakar said although the shift in the elections earlier slated for 16th February and 3rd March was quite disappointing in view of the preparations by various stakeholders, including political parties and candidates, Nigerians should give the Commission the benefit of doubt.
“The postponement no doubt, was disappointing to us especially in view of the preparations that went in to it. The campaigns; movements of materials to locations, deployment by security operatives, INEC staff, elections observers.
“It is also sad that Nigerians have to travel to different locations to exercise their civic responsibilities but we must remain calm and accept what happened in good faith,” the former Head of State said.
Similarly, the All Progressive Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Benue State, Emmanuel Jime, has described the postponement of the election as “very devastating and disappointing.”
Jime said that the postponement of the exercise would demean the country before the international community as they would laugh at Nigeria for not being able to deliver the processes of election.
“This is really very devastating. I have to say that for me, this is really very disappointing outing. We have worked very hard to make sure that we are delivering on this democracy. We should be improving on how we are delivering on our elections, the processes of elections as well.
“We should never be seeing this sort of thing in the 21st century Nigeria because we will make ourselves laughing stock as far as the international community is concerned. If we can’t deliver a simple thing as a circle of elections, one which allows us room to prepare every four years. The process should really work in a way that we do not have this kind of thing. This is very bad,” he said.
