The world was waiting breathlessly to see if Nigeria will consolidate her democracy by conducting free, fair and credible 2019 election. It is easy to underestimate the level of interest Nigerians and other nations want to see a smooth election. Just as the expectation peaked, the unthinkable happened. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) decided to postpone the election few hours before voting starts. First, it is an insult and lack of respect for Nigerians to postpone an election few hours before voting starts. It shows that INEC are taking Nigerians for granted. If election should be postponed, it should be done at least one week to the scheduled date.
When elections are postponed in the manner it was done, that election has been tainted because the same environment could never be created again especially in Nigeria where most people go back to their home town to vote. Most electorates are already in their home town before the postponement. Sudden postponement of the election only gave them two choices. First choice is to go back to their business location and come back in a week or stay home for one week and lose their one-week income. A lot of Nigerians who went back to their home town to vote will go back to their business or work location and say to hell with the election. The result will be low voter turnout on the rescheduled date of February 23, 2019. High voter turnout has always been the norm in Nigeria. Low voter turnout normally favors the ruling party.
They will be question mark about this election no matter who wins because of this sudden postponement. They will be court challenges irrespective of which party emerges the winner.
International Community are implicitly blaming the ruling party who nominated the present INEC commissioner. President Buhari in the eyes of the international community especially Europeans countries is exactly where former president Jonathan was prior to 2015 election. They think President Jonathan is corrupt and ineffective which was the reason he lost their support. For President Buhari, they think he is an authoritarian leader who lack democratic principles and disobeys court orders at will. They will not miss him at all if he loses this election unless his successor turns out to be worse than he is. International community desperately want to see Nigeria democracy succeed so they will set example for the rest of the continent and beyond. They think Nigeria will set example for undemocratic countries.
Postponement of 2019 election is probably better than conducting unfair and non-credible election. But INEC had four years to prepare for this election. Yes, there was sabotage by some hoodlums but they should have extra material on hand in-case the unexpected happens. Nigeria election should be localized. Centralized election body will continue to pose logistic challenge to INEC. INEC should have year round permanent personnel in all local government areas who will continously update the voters register, register new voters and conduct elections when necessary