The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has finally announced the postponement of Saturday’s governorship election in Edo by two weeks.
Solomon Soyebi, INEC national Commissioner in-charge of voter education and publicity, made the disclosure at a press conference at the commission’s office in Benin on Thursday.
Mr. Soyebi said the election would now hold on September 28, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.
He attributed the postponement to alleged security threat as reported by security agencies.
The electoral commission had earlier on Thursday rejected the call for postponement by the police and the State Security Service, SSS. The commission had said it would not be “teleguided”, and argued that suspending the polls would be costly after reaching at least 97 per cent readiness level.
Hours after making that announcement, the commission backtracked and said it agreed to postpone the elections based on the security concerns cited by the police and the SSS.
The main opposition party, PDP, and its leaders have been very vocal in condemning the postponement of an election expected to be closely fought.
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