President Muhammadu Buhari says the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has questions to answer over the postponement of the general election.
Barely five hours to the presidential and national assembly elections on Saturday, INEC announced postponement of the exercise — blaming this on logistics issues.
Reacting during the All Progressives Congress (APC) caucus meeting on Monday, Buhari said INEC had all the resources it needed to carry out its duties.
“I have to leave my constituency and come to Abuja immediately, because I was told of the decision of INEC about 4:30 in the morning,” he said.
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“I told them in my statement at the airport that INEC had all the time and all the resources they wanted and then they have to wait for only six hours to casting the votes to tell us that it is not possible. Definitely, the reasons why such incompetence manifest itself has to be explained to the nation.
“After the elections we have to know exactly what happened and who is responsible. Otherwise our efforts to make sure this system we voluntarily accept is not making progress, what is the use if we accept incompetence? The constitutions and the laws protected INEC but they must not take us for granted. If for example the national assembly refused to approve what INEC wanted, then INEC could have some other reasons why they couldn’t perform.
“If the time constitutionally of election four years after was not obeyed by the government in the system, INEC will have a case. But we do not understand why, and we have to go into details after the elections to find out who is responsible.”
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The president also asked party members to be patient and remain committed.
On Sunday, the presidential campaign council of the party had asked INEC to brief Nigerians on its level of preparedness daily.
The presidential and national assembly elections earlier will now hold on February 23 while governorship, state assembly elections will now hold on March 9. 2019.
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