5th April, 2011
The Resident Electoral Commissioners, REC, in 36 states of the Federation and Abuja have started arriving Abuja for a crucial meeting with the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Professor Attahiru Jega at the commission headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city.
A source informed P.M.NEWS that the RECs are meeting to review the botched National Assembly election which was postponed midway last Saturday.
The source added that the RECs were also billed to map out strategies for the NASS election rescheduled for 9 April nationwide. The meeting had not started at the time of this report.
However, another source close to the INEC headquarters in Abuja informed P.M.NEWS that the Saturday election may be postponed again in nine states owing to logistics.
It was gathered that the REC will be taking stock of the electoral materials supplied to states where voting had already taken place last Saturday before the cancellation of the election.
Some senatorial districts and constituencies had already completed voting before the postponement and as such fresh materials have to be provided for the rescheduled parliamentary election.
States that are likely to be affected by the postponement of the Saturday NASS election include: Ogun, Rivers, Jigawa, Imo, Ondo, Anambra, Gombe and Katsina.
It was also learnt that the INEC is expecting more electoral materials to be delivered from China for the elections.
As at press time, the RECs meeting in Abuja was ongoing.
The INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega announced the cancellation of the NASS election on Saturday. He blamed the hiccups arising from the election on shortage of electoral materials.
Jega blamed the arrival of the imported materials on contractors and the crisis in Libya.
He initially announced Monday 4 April for the rescheduled election. But after a meeting with RECs and the stakeholders on Sunday, the NASS election was rescheduled for Saturday, the presidential election, 16 April and the governorship and state assembly elections, 26 April.
—Nnamdi Felix/Abuja
