Mixed reactions have greeted the release of the 2015 elections timetable which indicated that the Presidential and National Assembly elections will hold on Feb. 14, 2015 before the gubernatorial and state assemblies elections scheduled for Feb. 28, 2015.
The All Progressive Congress (APC) Interim Organising Secretary in Jigawa, State, Ahaji Nasiru Dantiye, is quoted by Vanguard as saying that the INEC's plan to conduct elections on separate days would cost the nation a lot of money.
“Generally, if fixing the polls in February is within the provision of electoral law it is okay, but it would have been better when all the elections are conducted in one day”
In another reaction, the Chairman of All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) also in Jigawa State, Alhaji Sardauna Yaro, criticized the idea of holding the presidential election before other elections “because whichever party emerges winner in the presidential election will influence the subsequent polls”
Former acting National Secretary of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Remi Akitoye, commended INEC for spacing out the elections adding that “the spacing of the timetable will give room for fair play and we believe that INEC will do a thorough job this time.”
Some sections have also however reated positively to the election timetable. In a telephone interview with The Guardian yesterday, national chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Victor Umeh, praised INEC over what he described as wisdom in the plan to hold elections early enough, and before the swearing-in date.
A member of the People’s Democratic Party in Oyo State, Sen. Lekan Balogun is reported by the Punch to have said that “the INEC timetable is very good and we (politicians) have no problem with it; all we need to do is to adjust to the programme.’’
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