Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has expressed dismay and disappointment over the postponement of Saturday’s election saying the President Mohammadu Buhari led government is only delaying their evil days of defeat.
The Governor who spoke to journalist in his government house residence in Makurdi appealed to Nigerians and Benue residents to be peaceful and law abiding even in the face of provocations.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had, in the early hours of Saturday, announced the postponement of the elections until February 23 for presidential and National Assembly elections and March 9 for Governorship.
Ortom said “I feel very very sad for this postponement. It’s not just about me but about Nigerians and the people of Benue. You can imagine what we put in working for this election. For months, most of us have been criss-crossing the country as the North Central Zonal coordinator for Atiku. We have suffered, we have spent sleepless nights.”
He decried the fact that INEC lacked the courtesy to give political parties prior information so that they can prepare themselves “but they took that decision unilaterally, that we can go to hell. I still want us to give INEC a second chance”, he said.
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Ortom insisted that the All Progressives Congress, APC, is only buying additional time before their defeat saying whether INEC shifts the polls to any date, Nigerians would still reject APC.
He stated that the postponement was planned as evidenced in the statement credited to leader of the APC in the state, Senator George Akume that they would cause the election to be postponed and write results.
Governor Ortom described the development as unfortunate, saying for INEC to postpone the elections that took them more than three years to plan, a few hours to the commencement of voting when people had travelled from far places to exercise their franchise was a rape of democracy.
He said the action was a grand plan by the APC-led federal government to rig the elections, noting however that Benue State and North Central in general was vigilant and would not allow any form of rigging during the polls.
Governor Ortom stated that the people of the region were prepared for free, fair, credible and transparent elections that would usher in leaders who can anchor the country’s democracy based on the rule of law.
He said dictatorship and nepotism are some of the major characteristics of the present APC-led government at the centre where the constitution of the country is no longer respected.
He urged eligible voters in Benue and other parts of the country not to be discouraged by the sudden shift in the election dates but to remain resolute and to keep a date with the rescheduled elections from next Saturday, until the current APC government of impunity is dethroned through the ballot.
