The chairman of INEC, Attahiru Jega, who announced the shift Saturday, said the decision followed the “strong advisory” and a warning from the National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, and military chiefs that they could not guarantee security if the polls go ahead February.
He said the security forces demanded at least six weeks to conclude a major operation against Boko Haram in the North East Region.
But speaking Tuesday evening on the BBC, the director of media of the PDP presidential campaign organization, Femi Fani-Kayode, said the security concern relating to the insurgency in the Northeast, was immaterial to the decision to postpone the elections.
He argued that the problem of logistics, including the challenge of distributing Permanent Voter Cards to valid voters, faced by INEC, led to the postponement.
Defending the Presidency, he said the push for polls shift never emanated from President Goodluck Jonathan.
“The decision to postpone the elections never emanated from the government of President Goodluck Jonathan as being speculated, but from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) owing to the problem of logistics it encountered,” Mr. Fani-Kayode said.
But it was Mr. Dasuki, President Jonathan’s security adviser, who gave the first hint that the elections would be postponed.
Speaking in London late January, Mr. Dasuki said he had suggested to INEC that the polls be rescheduled to allow more Nigerians collect their PVCs.
In his letter which eventually compelled INEC to shift the polls, Mr. Dasuki cited security fears, and no longer the PVCs.
Mr. Fani-Kayode said “INEC mainly agreed to shift the dates for the scheduled Nigeria’s general elections mainly because many eligible voters in Nigeria were yet to get their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs)”.
He stressed that the percentage of those who were yet to get the cards was still high at the time the dates of the elections were shifted.
Mr. Fani-Kayode said Boko Haram became part of the reason for postponing the election “because the Service Chiefs in Nigeria suggested to INEC that they could not guarantee security during a nationwide election, while the attention of the military would be concentrated on the task of flushing the insurgents out of the north-eastern part of Nigeria where they have been operating”.
He also denied that the insurgency has been politicised.
Asked whether or not the PDP would support any further postponement in the event that the military is unable to effectively contain the insurgents within six weeks, Mr. Fani-Kayode said “the constitution of Nigeria has given limitations on the number of days elections should hold before the handover date”.
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