The Independent National Electoral Commission [INEC] has announced that election into the National Assembly which is to hold on Saturday April 9, 2011 will only hold in some areas while others have been postponed indefinitely.
The chairman of the commission, Professor Attahiru Jega on live broadcast to the nation said elections will not hold in 15 senatorial districts and 48 federal constituencies, the districts affected spread across about 25 states of the federation.
Some of the Senatorial districts according to Jega include:
Bayelsa Central; Benue North; Cross River South, Cross River Central, Ebonyi North, Ekiti Central, Ekiti North, Ekiti South, Gombe North, Kaduna North, Niger South, Plateau North, South and Central and Sokoto North.
For the Federal House of Representatives election, the some of the affected constituencies are spread across the following states; Edo, Ekiti, Gombe, Imo, Kaduna, Kwara, Lagos, Niger, Nassarawa, Ogun, Oyo, Plateau, Delta (Aniocha/Oshimili; Ethiope East/West; Bomadi/Patani); Akwa Ibom, Abia, Benue, Cross River, Rivers and Zamfara.
Attahiru Jega said the postponed election would be conducted alongside the governorship election on Tuesday, April 26, 2011.
Stressing the reason for the postponment, Jega said, "The Commission has made strenuous efforts to get these ballot papers printed within the available time; but given the security requirements of the printing of ballot papers and the inability of domestic and international companies to deliver on time, it has become imperative that sufficient time be given for the printing of these ballot papers. Consequently, while elections will in general take place next Saturday, it has become inevitable to postpone elections in a few affected constituencies, that is
"I should say that the postponed elections affect only about 14% of all Senatorial Districts and 13% of Federal Constituencies. This means that elections will take place this Saturday in 86% and 87% of Senatorial Districts and Federal Constituencies respectively.
"For purposes of clarity, it is not everywhere that voting took place last week that is affected by this rescheduling. In some areas, only very few ballots were used, which means that elections can go on unhindered in those places this Saturday.
"I want to seize this opportunity to advise all voters to be orderly and peaceful during the elections. Those who choose to stay behind after voting must be orderly and non-violent. I appeal to political parties to implore their supporters to eschew violence. We are working closely with the security agencies to arrest political thugs and vigilantes. Also, underage voters will be arrested. I appeal to parents and community leaders not to allow their children to indulge in this illegal act.
We also noticed last Saturday that some Governors did not comply with the appeal to them not to move around with their security orderlies during the elections. Although we recognize that Governors are Chief Executives of their States, I once more appeal to them to vote and return home in order to reduce political tensions during the elections. Security agencies will strictly enforce compliance with this directive".