SAN FRANCISCO, February 08, (THEWILL) – Foremost Ijaw youth organisation, the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), has welcomed the postponement of the country’s general elections, urging the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to display utmost transparency in its preparation towards the rescheduled elections.
INEC’s Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, had Saturday night announced new dates for Nigeria’s general elections, saying the Presidential elections and National Assembly elections earlier slated for February 14 will now hold on March 28, while the Governorship and State House of Assembly elections previously scheduled for February 28, will now hold on April 11 .
IYC in a statement signed by its spokesman, Barrister Eric Omare, said IYC welcomes the postponement of the 2015 general elections considering the poor preparations of INEC .
The group said; “We believe that the postponement was the best decision in the circumstances and we commend INEC for its boldness to take the right decision despite the negative propaganda by some of the political leaders and parties to force INEC to conduct the elections on February 14t and 28 2015 despite the fact that the Commission was not ready.”
However, the IYC called on INEC to display utmost transparency in its preparation towards the rescheduled elections so as to let Nigerians know the Commission’s level of preparation and challenges it is facing to avoid the unnecessary tension generated in the days leading to the postponement.
“INEC should as a matter of principle carry out a weekly press briefing to update Nigerians on the level of preparation, especially to ensure that all registered voters obtain their voter cards to enable them participate in the elections,” the statement said.
The IYC also called on leaders, especially in the southern part of the country to provide leadership by mobilising their people to collect their permanent voter cards (PVCs).
“While we commend the efforts of southern leaders such as Chief E. K. Clark, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, Senator Femi Okuruomu and others towards ensuring that voters from southern Nigeria fully participate in the elections, it is now time for all leaders to return home and mobilise their people to collect their permanent voters card in preparation for the elections.”
“We also condemn in the strongest terms political leaders, parties and foreign countries who opposed the call for postponement of the elections.”
“It clearly shows that those leaders and their parties are unpatriotic and do not have the interest of Nigerians at heart.”
‘We call on Nigerians, especially those who would have the opportunity to participate in the elections as a result of this postponement to express their grievances with those leaders and parties through their votes,” the statement added.
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