Atiku Rejects NSA’s Call For Postponement Of General Elections

A former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has said that the general elections in the country should hold as scheduled next month, and that the government must not tinker with the option of postponing the timelines for the polls.

“Yes, we have a problem with the distribution of PVCs but the position of my party, the APC is that since we have a voters’ register then that should be used in conducting the elections. I also believe there is enough time between now and the elections to issue everyone with their PVCs”, Mr. Abubakar said.

The former vice president was reacting to a call Thursday by the National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd), for a reschedule of the election to allow the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, conclude distribution of voter cards.

According to the NSA, only about 30 million Nigerians had collected their PVCs with the same number of PVCs yet to be collected.

But Mr. Abubakar, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, said Dasuki’s suggestion was uncalled for and portends a dangerous signal about the intentions of the Federal Government to conduct a free, fair and credible poll in February.

He spoke shortly after arriving Abuja from a medical trip abroad.

The Atiku Media Office quoted the Turakin Adamawa as saying he was “strong, healthy and happy to be back to lend his support the train of change sweeping across the country”.

“The duty of participating in the process of change which our great party, the APC is committed to supersedes every other consideration. For me, participating in this campaign is a call to national duty.

“It is a duty which we cannot afford to compromise upon and we must press into the consciousness of those at the helms of affairs that it is morally dubious and socially unacceptable to extend the dates of the elections by a single day from the scheduled timelines”, the former Vice President said.