'No political influence' for Nigeria vote delay- EC boss

Staff members of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) unload ballot boxes from a van outside their local office in Port Harcourt, Southern Nigeria on February 16, 2019 after Nigeria's electoral watchdog postponed presidential and parliamentary elections for one week, just hours before polls were due to open. AFP PHOTO

What you need to know:

  • Just over 84 million people had been registered to vote at nearly 120,000 polling units across the country on Saturday, and at governorship and state assembly elections on March 2.
  • A 48-hour delay was also ruled out because technicians said more time was needed to reconfigure the 180,000 or so machines that "read" biometric voter cards to a different date.

The head of Nigeria's electoral commission on Saturday said politics played no part in the last-minute decision to delay presidential and parliamentary elections by one week.
The Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) announced the postponement just hours before polls were due to open at 0700 GMT, blaming logistical difficulties.
But the two main political parties have claimed the delay was part of a plot to rig the results.

INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, rejected the assertion. "Our decision was entirely taken by the commission," he told a news conference in the capital, Abuja.
"It has nothing to do with security, nothing to do with political influence, nothing to do with availability of resource," he added.
Yakubu, who has earlier maintained the electoral body was "good to go" for Saturday's vote, said the delay was "good for our democracy and for our country".

He explained that organising elections in Africa's most populous nation of some 190 million people was an "enormous undertaking" and "operational challenges" were to be expected.
Just over 84 million people had been registered to vote at nearly 120,000 polling units across the country on Saturday, and at governorship and state assembly elections on March 2.

Ballot papers and results sheets were ready but a combination of factors, including last-minute legal challenges to candidacies, bad weather and fires, hampered distribution.
That raised the prospect that not all polling units would be open for voting at the same time around the country.
A staggered election "would harm public perception of elections as free, fair and credible", Yakubu said.

The INEC chairman said a 24-delay was considered but restrictions on movement and church services would have hindered turn-out.
A 48-hour delay was also ruled out because technicians said more time was needed to reconfigure the 180,000 or so machines that "read" biometric voter cards to a different date.
Reconfiguration would take place between Sunday and Thursday, he added.
"As chairman of INEC and on behalf of the commission, we take full responsibility for what happened and we regret any inconvenience our decision might have caused," he added.

Main reactions to Nigeria election delay

Here are the main reactions to the one-week delay to Nigeria's presidential and parliamentary elections, which were to have been held on Saturday:
"Following a careful review of the implementation of its 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."

Mahmood Yakubu, chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
"I am deeply disappointed... I... appeal to all Nigerians to refrain from all civil disorder and remain peaceful, patriotic and united to ensure that no force or conspiracy derail our democratic development."
President Muhammadu Buhari, ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)
"Do not react to this provocation with anger, violence or any action that might exploited by those who do not want this election to hold. Remain calm. We will overcome this. You can postpone an election but you cannot postpone destiny."

Atiku Abubakar, main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate
"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. We are only urging INEC not to collude with the PDP on this."
APC
"This decision by INEC is a grand plot to give the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Buhari presidency the space to perfect their rigging plans, which have been resisted by Nigerians to this point."