Residents of Damaturu, the Yobe state capital, said Nigeria should have grown beyond shifting of elections after experiencing 20 years of uninterrupted democracy.
They however called on INEC not to reschedule the 2019 elections again.
Reacting to the rescheduled elections, All Progressives Congress (APC) Youth Leader in Damaturu, Yusuf Goni (Kaka) said: “the rescheduling of the elections may be a blessing to the entire country, but INEC should not allow that to happen again, because it slows down the democratic processes.
“We are confident of ourselves irrespective of the postponement. Our APC candidates at all levels are ready. Youths should not see the shift period as a time to cause chaos.
“We call on youths, especially those in the other political parties to conduct themselves peacefully. As for us, we have finished our home work”, he said.
For Christopher Zachairah, an electorate: “We were very optimistic the election was going to hold, prepared and willing to cast our votes,
suddenly we heard of its postponement and this has demoralized us completely. We hope that February 23 and March 9, 2019, elections
will not be shifted again.”
Another electorate, Abdullahi Mustapha Dalah, also said: “there is no course for alarm, because this is not the first time elections were
shifted in Nigeria, it happened in 2011 and 2015. We pray INEC will not shift it again, so that we can elect leaders of our choice.”
The Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Ahmad Makama earlier on Saturday briefed journalists on why the elections
were rescheduled.
Makama assured the residents of the safety of the sensitive materials, adding: “those dispatched yesterday (Friday) are being returned.”
