Jonathan insists:Delay is better than a shoddy job..Daniel, Activists decry electoral flop
Newsdiaryonline  Sat April 2,2011

President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan Saturday expressed confidence that Nigeria was capable of conducting credible elections.

The President who addressed journalists in his country home, Otuoke, Bayelsa State, following his inability to do accreditation as a result of non-availability of INEC officials and voting materials, appealed to Nigerians to bear with the electoral body. 

"If we must do something, it is better to delay and do it well," he said in reference to INEC's postponement of the National Assembly elections till Monday, April 4.

President Jonathan while commending the enthusiasm and commitment displayed by Nigerians in trooping out and even travelling far to vote in spite of the restrictions, pleaded with them to show understanding by enduring till Monday, noting that it is part of the sacrifices required to conduct credible polls. 

The President who expressed regret over the situation which led to the postponement, said he was returning to Abuja but would get back to his village again to vote on Monday.

Cost of Postponement is Monumental……Daniel

The Ogun State Governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, has described the postponement of the National Assembly Election from Saturday April 2 to Monday April 4, 2011 has one that comes with monumental cost to the nation. Governor Daniel who had already done his accreditation at his Isote ward in Sagamu when news of the postponement filtered in said the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has a lot of explanation to give to Nigerians since the body had already told Nigerians that it was ready  for the election.

“A lot of man hour and financial outlay had gone into the preparation of the election and everybody had expected a fair outing from INEC which got all the needed support from President Goodluck Jonathan, the Federal Government and the generality of Nigerians. Of course we are all disappointed with the turn of events especially the negative effect this would have on our image internationally, because INEC and Nigeria have no excuse for this failure.However we should not be discouraged, we should turn out en masse on Monday to exercise our civic right and vote for the candidates of our choice. We are all joint stakeholders in the democratic enterprise and we must not allow it to fail,” the Governor said 

Governor Daniel said rather than call for the sack of Professor Attahiru Jega, Nigerians should rally round the Chairman and his men to ensure that the election on Monday and the subsequent ones are held in a seamless manner to further deepen democracy in our country

 It’s sad and disappointing-Keyamo

The announcement, a few minutes ago, by Prof. Attahiru Jega, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, postponing the National Assembly Election to Monday, April 4, 2011 due to “problems of logistics”, is both sad and disappointing. It has spread a sense of disillusionment across the country and it has shaken the confidence of not a few people in the ability of Prof. Attahiru Jega to effectively take charge of all the goings-on in INEC. But beyond the reasons given by Jega, there is a strong hint of sabotage in the whole process. These are my reasons:  

In the past, it has been under the guise of problems of logistics that all kinds of electoral malpractices are perpetrated: we saw situations where results were announced when no election took place; we saw materials arrive, in some cases, in the evening and voting continued late into the night under candle lights or torch lights which gave room for all kinds of manipulations; we saw ballot boxes with full ballot papers already thumb-printed arrive late at polling units long after voters had gone home out of frustration. Therefore, one of the recipes for rigging is the problems of logistics leading to the late arrival or non arrival of materials.

It is in the light of the above that I cannot rule out sabotage by those who are bent on rigging the elections in creating situations which has resulted in the problem of logistics. I am therefore taking the reasons given by Prof. Jega with a pinch of salt. It is clear that those around Jega who should coordinate logistics, and who had done so in the past, and who continued to assure Jega that everything was fine till the eleventh hour are working hand-in-hand with certain elements to truncate the process. We hope that this will serve as a reality check to Prof. Attahiru Jega and his INEC.

What is clear from this situation is that Prof. Jega has grossly underestimated the enormity of the work with which he is faced. The problem of logistics in the distribution of INEC materials on election days has been a recurring problem since 1999. Even as the 2011 approached, Jega continued to assure the nation that, with hindsight, this perennial problem would be adequately addressed. But alas, we now know better. Those who were assuring him were actually deceiving him.

But whilst Prof. Jega must accept this stick from us for this setback, we must commend him for the courage and humility to accept the blame and to quickly save the situation by canceling the entire exercise. That was the best decision under the circumstance. Under Prof. Maurice Iwu, it is under the same circumstance that results were announced where no voting took place and winners were declared – situations that Prof. Iwu also defended with so much vigour. In this case, instead of defending the indefensible, Prof. Jega decided to eat his humble pie.

It's sabotage-Shehu Sani

Reports from our coordinators across the states indicate that there is a problem of late delivery of election materials across most of the state. In many states up to 12noon election materials are yet to be delivered. This will undoubtedly affect the daily schedule and timing of the elections.

Late delivery of materials leads to late accreditation and this lead to commencement of the election and will ultimately lead to disenfranchisement of many if the closing time of the election still stands at 5pm.

Late delivery of materials is inexcusable going by the fact that enough funding and logistics have been provided and secured by the resident electoral commissioners across the states.

An election cannot be credible until it is conclusive and all inclusive.

The announced cancellation of the elections by INEC Chairman is inevitable but could have been avoided. Even though the elections have been shifted, we believe it will unavoidably affect the morale and enthusiasm of Nigerian voters.

We demand for an immediate probe over the circumstances that led to this sabotage.

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