Many Nigerians were shocked last Saturday when they woke up to the news that the general elections had been postponed.
TheNewGuru recalls that the Independent National Electoral in the early hours of the day when the presidential, Senate and House of Representatives membership elections were to hold, announced the postponement of the exercise by one week – a postponement from February 16 to February 23.
An array of Lagos residents told TheNewsGuru on Wednesday that the election postponement had destabilized them because it has clashed with their earlier schedules and made them lose money.
A photographer and digital media expert, Odunola Abayomi said she was supposed to have a couple of photo shoots, but the botched election affected the shoots, adding that it has also affected her income.
“I was supposed to have a couple of photo shoots on the 26th of February but had to postpone some to the next Saturday because of the election. Now with the election postponement, those photo shoots will be affected; it has inadvertently affected my anticipated financial gains for these couple of weeks. We hope and pray that there won’t be a re-occurrence”.
Lamenting also, Mr Wale Sarumi, a sound engineer said it affected him immensely. He added that he was supposed to render his service at a wedding ceremony but the unexpected postponement affected his pay.
“It affected me because I was meant to render my service at a wedding ceremony. I had already budgeted how I intended to spend the money. We were also meant to have a job on the 23rd of February now the election postponement has affected it. It has also affected a loan I am meant to pay. It’s a sad situation”, he told TheNewsGuru.
On her part, Chichi Amadi Moses, a boutique owner lamented the disruption and it’s effect on her business and her customers.
“Most of my customers travelled with the intention to go and vote. They couldn’t stay in Lagos to patronize us. It affected my sales drastically. INEC ought to have informed us few days before the election. The decision was just too sudden”.
Also, Mr Abiodun Oyetunji of AGS 247 Logistics said the postponement affected the goods that were meant to be transported to other states across Nigeria.
“It affected our logistics business in the sense that the goods that were meant to be transported to other states across Nigeria on Saturday had to be postponed for Monday. The postponement disrupted our plans, shipment days disrupted, customer’s goods not arriving early etc. It’s an avoidable postponement. We hope such won’t repeat itself come next Saturday”.
TheNewsGuru reports that in 2011, INEC postponed the general elections by two days due to the late arrival of electoral materials in some parts of the country.
On April 2, 2011, voting had started in some areas before the then Chairman of INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega, announced cancellation and postponement of the exercise citing non-availability of materials to conduct the polls in some places.