Well, do not panic, THE ELECTIONS ARE NOT POSTPONED. I wish they were postponed though, but they remained as scheduled. On Saturday February 16 2019, Nigerians would decide their next President, and I pray people are allowed to vote, that they vote wisely and that their votes are allowed to count!
I have not done any kind of research into this, but from mere observation, elections in Nigeria; for as long as I can remember, have always been held on weekends; precisely on Saturdays. It has become so routine that it appears conducting elections on a weekday in Nigeria is tantamount to electoral fraud. But I doubt that it does.
Elections on Saturday disenfranchises at least 239,104 electorates from voting. This is the number or Seventh-Day Adventist Christians in Nigeria as at 30th June 2018; who claim that elections on Saturday is against their religious ethics. However, most of the electorate do not seem to see this as a challenge to democracy and certain the government doesn’t. Buhari won with 2.57million votes in 2015, which is more than thrice the number of this largely minority Christianity group.
Although it is bad enough that one electorate is constantly denied the right to vote in elections, merely by the day elections are held, it is obvious that denying 239,000+ people MAY not yet have so much effect on the outcomes of the elections in Nigeria, but this may not remain the case in the near future as populations continue to explode; defiling every possible odd. We all talk so well about every vote counting, but we don’t seem to do so much to translate talk to action. Hopefully, soon, as little as one electorate’s vote would start to really matter beyond all the ‘stereotype talk’ we hear. I hope it’s not too late then!
Wishing Nigeria a peaceful 2019 electoral outing! Let’s hope the promise of non-interference and that of peaceful, free, fair and credible elections will be kept.
God bless the FRN!
