News: Hundreds of protesters storm INEC office, demand postponement of elections

Hundreds of protesters stormed the headquarters of the
Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Monday,
demanding the postponement of this month’s general
election.
The youth gathered at the INEC headquarters in the
Maitama District of Abuja asking it to delay the polls
because of the difficulty in the distribution of the Permanent
Voters Card, PVCs.
According to the protesters, only 40 per cent of
the PVCs had been distributed ahead of the February 14
and 28 elections.
They also claimed that INEC needed 960,000 ad hoc staff
but that at the time of their protest the staff had not been
engaged.
They argued that if the polls were allowed to go ahead as
scheduled, several million Nigerians would not be able to
vote.
The youth, who gathered at Unity Fountain beside Hilton
Hotel before marching to the INEC headquarters on
Zambezi Street, were bearing banners and placards with the
inscriptions such as “Election is for general participation,
not for selective few” “INEC, do the right thing,” “Don’t
disenfranchise Nigerians,” “We demand for the extension of
election to allow Nigerian exercise their franchise.”
After the protest, the youth returned to the Unity Fountain
where they were sighted sharing money.
It was not clear if they were sponsored by the Presidency or
the PDP, but sources indicated that they were hired by
some unnamed individuals who promised them money.
The National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, a retired
colonel, had at an event in London recently made a case for
the shift of the elections to give INEC more time to distribute
all the PVCs.
However, criticisms trailed the call with Nigeria’s leading
opposition party, the All Progressives Congress, APC,
alleging that Mr. Dasuki was only making the call to buy
time for the PDP presidential candidate, President Goodluck
Jonathan’s campaign to gather steam.
Since the NSA made the call some individuals and groups
have also asked for the postponement of the polls.
INEC said it has so far distributed 42.77 million PVCS out of
the 68.8 million registered voters, representing 62.15 per
cent.
Since Mr. Dasuki’s call for postponement of the polls,
several Nigerians and groups, especially, the All
Progressives Congress, APC, have maintained that the
Presidency and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP,
are pushing for postponement because of the fear of
failure.
The PDP and Presidency have both denied being behind the
postponement move. CLICK HERE TO READ FULL AND TOUCHING NIGERIAN CELEBRITIES BIOGRAPHY AND SCANDALS

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