Nigerians in Ghana express disappointment in postponement of elections

Scores of Nigerians based in Ghana have expressed disappointment about a last-minute decision by the country's electoral authority to delay presidential and national assembly elections by a week.

Nigeria’s elections which was due to open on Saturday, 16th February 2019, at 8am was cancelled four hours to time by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and rescheduled to 23rd February 2019.

Nigerians resident in Ghana who are not happy about the development believe it is a ploy by the current administration to rig the election even though the INEC stated categorically that postponement was due to issues with logistics.

Speaking to GhanaWeb, they complained that some of their colleagues had to leave their businesses behind just to go cast their vote and return to Ghana but the unfortunate incident has kept them in Nigeria to the detriment of their businesses.

“The postponement is never a good idea because most of the people living in Ghana went to Nigeria because of the elections. Now that they have cancelled it, are you expecting them to move all the way from Nigeria down to Ghana again and wait for next time to go back and cast their votes?” One of them stated.

He went on to add that, “It is unfair. When Nigeria leaders are doing something, they should put their masses at heart before they do anything”.



Postponement of elections

Just as Nigerians were preparing to head for the polls, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission announced that the election would be postponed for one week. It was expected to be a tight race between President Muhammadu Buhari and the main opposition candidate, businessman and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.