INEC: Tales Of An Election Fiasco

Guardian

3 April 2011

INEC: Tales Of An Election Fiasco

Postpones Exercise Till Tomorrow
Blames Late Arrival Of Materials

Nigerians React

NIGERIA’S image, which has been battered by successive bungling of the electoral process, received another beating yesterday when the much-advertised election into the National Assembly could not hold as scheduled.

The election, the first of a three-pronged affair, was to wipe away the ugly reminiscences of the 2007 balloting that was adjudged by local and international observers as the worst in the nation’s history.

Indeed, Prof. Attahiru Jega, the INEC chair, promised to deliver free, fair and credible elections that would be acceptable to, not only Nigerians, but also the international community.

Hence, when he announced the postponement of the election yesterday in the middle of the exercise, reactions from all corners of Nigeria were swift in coming.

Voters were already out at polling stations across the country, and in reality, accreditation and/voting had commenced in several places when Prof. Jega called a hurried press conference to announce the postponement of the balloting.