Thread by @beegeaglesblog

The Real Cost Of The Postponement Of Nigeria's Presidential + National Assembly Polls

1. For those whose ready escape is the recourse to precedents, this latest exhibition of folly which came so late that many Nigerians are already at their polling units without knowing that the polls were postponed whilst they slept

2. Wbereas this announcement was made in the early hours of the day, the 2015 postponement was made 6 days ahead of the initially stipulated date - 14 Feb 2015

bbc.com/news/world-afr…

3. Believing that vehicular movements were to be restricted from 6am today (or 8am depending on who you ask), people were already on the move as early as 5am today in a bid to access their polling units, some of which are not within waking distance

4. Even this minute, the roads in Abuja are still umcharaceristically free of traffic. Many people shop on Saturdays. The markets were packed to the rafters yesterday as people tried to stock up on supplies for a long, potentially dicey weekend. Traffic was heavy, Friday night

5. The immediacy of this cancellation means that the full spectrum of activities which precede elections in Nigeria had come full circle - mass relocation from the cities for those who love to vote in their ancestral villages, pre-emptive school closures etc

6. Typical apprehension which stems from fears for their personal safety anywhere outside of their home regions means that many persons who registered to vote in their amcestral homelands and have travelled interstate since Wednesday are now marooned there

7. They are now fated to remain there for one week whether they like it or not. The schools which brought forward their midterm breaks to coincide with the earlier scheduled polls will now have to extend the closures by one week

8. The two persons who must take the blame for this shambolic exhibition on the big stage - a veritable show of shame - are the Chairman of INEC, Mahmood Yakubu and the Chairman of INEC's Electoral Logistics Committee, AVM Ahmed Mu'Azu

inecnigeria.org/home/inec-comm…

The good news story of imminent polls in Nigeria, the largest electoral exercise in Africa and the Middle East has swiftly become one of how dysfunctional and disappointing our system is. Nothing will.change until we move away from our exultation+fetishization of nepotism

This day in our chequered history of displaying incompetence on big news day is hereby consigned to ignominy. We should be ashamed of ourselves. Period..end of story. Good morning one and all