The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo has described the postponement of the February 16 Presidential and National Assembly elections as a `rude shock’.The organisation however, said that it would not draw conclusions on the matter yet until after the stakeholders meeting slated by the Independent National Electoral Commission to clarify the circumstances.
The Assistant National Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Mr Chuks Ibegbu disclosed this on Saturday in Enugu while reacting to the shift in the dates of the general elections.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the electoral body arising from a meeting of its national commissioners early hours of Saturday announced a shift in the dates of the general elections.
The presidential and NASS elections that were scheduled to hold on February 16 were shifted to February 23 while the governorship and state houses of assembly elections that were slated for March 3 were rescheduled to March 9.
The INEC in its preliminary reports cited logistical challenges as the major reason for the shift in dates.
Ibegbu said that such uncertainty in the implementation of plans was characteristic of human nature.
“Human activities are filled with uncertainties. Therefore, we will not pre-empt INEC until they come out to give us the full details of why the elections were shifted,” he said.
Ibegbu however, said that it was regrettable that the elections did not go on as planned considering the fact that the electoral body had told Nigerians of its readiness to conduct the polls.