National Assembly and Senate Elections Postponed – Japanese Tsunami Blamed

Voting in Nigeria’s National Assembly and Senate elections has been suspended by INEC, the Independent National Election Commission. Voting is now planned to take place on Monday,

The Chairman of INEC, Prof. Atthairu Jega, said that this emergency action, was being taken because election materials had not reached the 1200 polling stations, in time.

He told reporters in Abuja that the materials - which were being printed abroad for security reasons - had been delayed because of a shortage of aircraft as a result of last month’s Japanese earthquake and tsunami.

Professor Jega apologised to all voters and explained that the voting materials – ballot papers, result sheets and so on – had only arrived in the country at 9 o’clock this morning (Saturday) which made national distribution impossible.

He accepted full responsibility for what he described as a “major lapse” but laid the blame at the feet of the supplier who had failed to deliver the election materials in time. He said that postponement was the only way to ensure free, fair and credible elections.