BY TAIWO FAROTIMI
The news making the rounds is that uncertainty hangs on the first lap of the 2019 general elections scheduled to take off some hours away. This came as a result of the ongoing crucial meeting at the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC in Abuja. Truly it is curious that a meeting is being presided over by Professor Mahmood Yakubu at the eleventh hour, but it could also be to enable the Commission and other agencies to get it right.
However, because it is unusual, particularly since some of the national commissioners of INEC, who should be in some of the states provided the necessary support to the resident electoral commissioners and their teams, are said to be in attendance, it is natural that fears are being raised that something may have gone amiss.
Those who nurse the fear that such a meeting may be looking at the postponement of the elections may be taking a cue from a similar occurrence in 2011, when the INEC under Professor Attahiru Jega, Yakubu’s predecessor, announced the postponement of the elections in the morning of the polls, even after sensitive materials that are often left till the last minutes had been distributed.
However, it is expected that if INEC has reason or reasons why the election may be compromised if held as scheduled, then security chiefs and perhaps the federal attorney general would be involved. Unfortunately, the officials at INEC are not helping matters, as it is keeping everyone in suspense.