×

2023 Elections: It’s Refreshing That Polls Were Not Postponed – Samson Itodo

The last three elections – in 2019, 2015, and 2011 – were deferred for one or more weeks over different issues.


 

A civil society organisation, YIAGA Africa, on Saturday expressed approval of the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to postpone the 2023 general elections.

The last three elections – in 2019, 2015, and 2011 – were deferred for one or more weeks over different issues.

In an interview with Channels Television from the sidelines of accreditation and voting at a polling unit in Abuja, the Executive Director, YIAGA Africa, Samson Itodo, described the non-postponement as refreshing.

READ ALSO: 2023 Elections: ‘Arrested Party Agents Were Not Plotting To Hack INEC Portal,’ Police Backtracks

“So far, at least, the election is holding and it’s quite refreshing to see that we didn’t postpone the elections. Since the last [three] previous elections, the elections are being held,” the community development expert said.

Observing the exercise at 9:18 am, he added, “I’m really impressed with the number of people I’ve seen show up to cast their votes. And people are waiting patiently to cast their votes. I really commend Nigerians.”

Postponement History

The INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, on Friday, insisted that the elections would hold as planned on February 25.

“Generally speaking, the situation is calm in the country as far as our preparation is concerned,” Yakubu said.

According to him, there has been no incident of insecurity involving the personnel and materials deployed by the commission.

2011

In 2011, INEC shifted the elections three times; the first, was after voting had begun in some states on April 2, 2011. Then INEC Chairman, Attahiru Jega, cited the late arrival of electoral materials in parts of the country for the postponements.

The electoral body further moved the presidential and National Assembly polls to April 9 and then to April 16; while the governorship and state Houses of Assembly election were shifted from April 23 to April 26.

Former Bayelsa State Governor and the then acting President, Goodluck Jonathan, who contested on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was declared winner of the presidential election.

2015

The situation was similar in 2015 as INEC postponed the polls six days before the earlier scheduled dates, citing insecurity. The electoral body shifted the Presidential and National Assembly polls from February 14 to March 28, 2015, while the Governorship and State Assemblies’ polls were moved to April 11, 2015.

Jega attributed the postponement to the insurgency in Nigeria’s troubled North-East zone which he said could affect the safety of election personnel, voters, and materials.

A former military head of state, Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) defeated the incumbent, then-President Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP to emerge winner of the keenly contested poll.

2019

A repeat played out four years ago as INEC shifted the 2019 Presidential and National Assembly Elections from February 16 to February 23, 2019, while it moved the Governorship/State House of Assembly/Federal Capital Territory Area Council elections to March 9, 2019, due to “logistics and operational plans”.

The incumbent, APC’s Buhari won the 2019 presidential election and secured another term of four years.

Voter turnout is expected to increase significantly in this year’s election. Already, 87,209,007 people have collected their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) representing 93.3 percent of the 93,469,008 total registered voters, according to INEC.

The contest for the election of Buhari’s successor has been described by analysts as a three-horse race between APC’s Bola Tinubu; PDP’s Atiku Abubakar; and Labour Party’s Peter Obi.