Senate President and Director General of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Council, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has said the last minute postponement of the Presidential and National Assembly elections has caused a great inconvenience to many Nigerians who were poised to vote for their preferred candidates in the elections.
Saraki, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, in Ilorin expressed shock and disappointment that after all the preparations by the electoral commission, the security services and other agencies of government, issues of logistics and related matters were said to be responsible for postponing the federal elections.
“Waiting till just a few hours to commencement of voting before announcing postponement of elections is extremely sad. Nobody can quantify the difficulty that this will bring to people at every level. I empathise with youth corps members who have been relocated from their places of primary assignment to assist with the conduct of the elections. My thoughts also go to civil servants who left their bases to go and vote in their hometowns. I also sympathise with millions of ordinary Nigerian traders whose businesses were suspended because of the no movement order. Thus, the costs of this postponement are incalculable,” he said.
He appealed to Nigerians not to be deterred, discouraged or disappointed but to continue to be strong and determined to cast their votes for their preferred candidates next Saturday. “They should try and forget the current setback and troop out en masse to vote for their preferred candidates. Not voting because of the postponement is not a good option for Nigerians. My appeal to our people is that we must still go out next Saturday to exercise our franchise,” he said.