Nigeria puts off presidential election hours before polling

abuja — Nigeria’s president and the leading opposition candidate urged people to remain calm after a national election scheduled for Saturday was postponed by a week just five hours before polls were due to open.

The chairman of the electoral commission said it was no longer feasible to hold free and fair elections on Saturday due to logistical problems, but he did not elaborate.

The vote will be held on February 23, he announced in the early hours of the morning.

Other electoral commission officials and Western diplomats said the problems concerned the inability to transport ballot papers and results sheets to some parts of the country, where 84 million voters have registered to vote.

President Muhammadu Buhari, in power since 2015, faces a tight election contest against the main opposition candidate, businessman and former vicepresident Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

PDP chairman Uche Secondu said the move was “dangerous to our democracy”. He called it part of an attempt by Buhari to “cling on to power even when it’s obvious to him that Nigerians want him out”.

The president said in a statement he was “deeply disappointed” and urged Nigerians to “refrain from all civil disorder and remain peaceful, patriotic and united”. —

I urge Nigerians to refrain from all civil disorder and remain peaceful, patriotic and united. Muhammadu Buhari, Nigerian President