National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voters Education, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Festus Okoye, has stated real reasons 2019 general election was postponed on the eve of the polls.
Okoye said external influences rather than internal forces were the bane of the INEC to conduct the election as scheduled.
While speaking on the topic “Dynamics and Mechanics of Free and Fair Elections,” yesterday in Kaduna as the guest speaker at 6th Catholic Men Organisation (CMO) and Fathers’ Day celebration, Saint Joseph Catholic Cathedral, he faulted some impressions that the federal government influenced the election postponement.
The INEC national commissioner said if the election had not been shifted, the country would have been plunged into chaos, pointing out that the only option left for the electoral umpire to save the nation from violence was to swallow its pride and apologised to Nigerians over the postponement.
Okoye further gave a rundown of reasons behind the postponement, saying: “The amended Electoral Bill was transmitted to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria close to the election.
“Planning in uncertainty, the electoral management body did not know whether electronic voting would be used and there were provisions in the new bill that needed to be explained and mastered.
“Procurement issues and the non-delivery of a few materials to the end users created uncertainty in terms of the security of materials and the capacity of INEC to deliver credible elections. Ballot papers and result sheet were printed outside the country and their delivery on good time became huge issue.
Also, was the rescheduling of the 2019 elections on account of logistic challenges and the backlash that followed the rescheduling. Political parties incurred costs. INEC incurred costs. The Nigerian people incurred costs. Some travelled long distances to vote. Some just disengaged from the electoral process.