Nigerian political parties call for postponement of polls in northeast state

Xinhua

27 April 2011

Nigerian political parties call for postponement of polls in northeast state

Four Nigerian political parties have called for the postponement of the gubernatorial election in northeast Bauchi State, less than 48 hours to the election.

The parties, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and KOWA party, made the call during a joint press conference in Bauchi on Tuesday.

Spokesperson of the parties, Aliyu Abubakar, told reporters that the election should only hold if the current curfew imposed on the state is lifted immediately.

The state government should immediately lift the dusk-to-dawn curfew imposed on the state if the election must hold on Thursday, he added.

The parties said the call became necessary because the state government had allegedly been issuing passes to government officials to perpetrate rigging.