How international media report postponed Nigerian election
London, Feb. 16, 2019 (AltAfrica)-Its now official, Nigeria’s electoral body, the Independent national Electoral Commission, INEC has postponed Nigeria’s much anticipated election by one week inflicting more image and credibility problem for the government
Addressing journalists, at 2:44am on Saturday, the chairman of the commission, Mahmood Yakubu, said the presidential and National Assembly election would hold on February 23, while the governorship and state assembly elections are rescheduled for March 9.
“Following a careful review of the implementation of the logistics and operational plan and the determination to conduct free, fair and credible elections, the commission came to the conclusion that proceeding with the elections as scheduled is no longer feasible,” Mr Yakubu said.
“Consequently, the commission has decided to reschedule the Presidential and National Assembly elections to Saturday, 23rd of February, 2019.
“Furthermore, the Governorship, State House of Assembly and Federal Capital Territory Area Council elections are rescheduled to Saturday, 9th March, 2019.
“This will afford the commission the opportunity to address identified challenges in order to maintain the quality of our elections.
“This was a difficult decision for the commission to take, but necessary for the successful delivery of elections and consolidation of our democracy.
But how has the international media reporting the situation in Nigeria?
Characteristically, the BBC has described the postponement as a MID NIGHT decision. Nigeria has delayed its presidential and parliamentary elections for a week, in a dramatic night-time move. Nigeria election 2019: Poll halted in last-minute drama-BBC
Africanews a multilingual news media service, headquartered in Pointe-Noire, Republic of the Congo, a subsidiary of France-based euronews says #ThisIsNigeria: voters frustrated by election postponement
The CNN, American giant news channel went with conventional reportage ” Nigerian parties condemn last-minute election delay
Aljazeera simply says Nigeria elections postponed by a week
Associated Press-Nigerians wake to find a delayed election, with some angry
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s two main political parties on Saturday hit out at a decision by the country’s election watchdog, INEC to push back presidential and parliamentary elections by a week.
Yet both the ruling All Progressives Congress and the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party blamed the other for orchestrating the delay as a way of manipulating the vote.
President Muhammadu Buhari’s campaign spokesman Festus Keyamo, for the APC, said the news was a “huge disappointment” and hit out at INEC for being unprepared.
Mr Keyamo called on the body to remain impartial “as the rumour mill is agog with the suggestion that this postponement has been orchestrated in collusion with the… PDP”.
“We have earlier raised the alarm that the PDP is bent on discrediting this process the moment it realised it cannot make up the numbers to win this election,” he added.
“We are only urging INEC not to collude with the PDP on this.”
PDP candidate Atiku Abubakar blamed the Buhari government for “instigating the postponement” and said it hoped to disenfranchise the electorate to ensure a low turnout.
“Nigerians must frustrate their plans by coming out in even greater numbers on Saturday 23 February” and for governorship and state assembly elections two weeks later, he added.
With tempers expected to flare, and political violence common in Nigeria, Abubakar called on his supporters to remain calm.
“We will overcome this. You can postpone an election but you cannot postpone destiny,” he added in a statement.
