Presidential candidate, Olawepo-Hashim, asks INEC to postpone elections for 4 weeks

Just hours to the commencement of the polls on February 16, the commission postponed the elections for an extra week due to logistical problems and claims of attempted sabotage.

The Presidential and National Assembly elections that were supposed to take place on February 16 will now take place on February 23, while the Governorship and State House of Assembly elections initially scheduled for March 2 have been moved to March 9.

However, in a letter addressed to INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, Olawepo-Hashim said one week is too short to resolve all the issues cited by INEC for the initial postponement.

He also noted that an extension would give smaller parties enough time to recover from the losses incurred from the mobilisation for Saturday's elections.

He said, "It is my considered opinion that in the haste to stick to a quickly announced date for the election, the Commission may not have paid adequate attention to the attendant voter apathy that may result if adequate confidence building measures are not implemented to win back ‘would-be’ voters for the next date of polling.

"As a result and because a potential voter's apathy in some section of the country or all of the country may substantially affect the results of the election, a new date of election should be between three to four weeks from February 16 not one week from February 16 as previously announced.

"This is more so for self-funded candidates and political parties who do not have the possibilities or intentions of falling quickly on the State treasuries to refinance another logistic deployment."

Olawepo-Hashim also objected to INEC's decision to place a ban on the resumption of campaigns in the days leading up to the rescheduled elections.