Postponement of the 16 February 2019 Presidential and National Assembly Elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been condemned by the Ogun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Reacting to the sudden postponement, the Publicity Secretary of the Ogun State chapter of the PDP, Alhaji Malik Ibitoye said, in a statement obtained by newsheadline247, that the postponement was done in bad taste and that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has only postponed its doomsday.
Alhaji Ibitoye added in the statement, which was made available to journalists on Saturday, that it is now clear to all Nigerians that the APC was not ready for the general elections.
According to him, “it is shocking and disheartening that Professor Yakubu Mahmood-led INEC waited till the last minute when Nigerians were preparing to perform their civic rights, to postpone the much-awaited general elections by one week.
“Mahmood must have put a call through to President Muhammadu Buhari before making the announcement of the postponement in the early hours of Saturday, February 16, when the elections ought to have held.
“This is quite unprecedented in the history of elections in Nigeria. The postponement of 2015 by the PDP then was done ahead of the election day and people were adequately informed of this as against the fire brigade approach of the ruling APC.”
The Publicity Secretary stressed that the Ogun State PDP, under the leadership of Engineer Bayo Dayo, was ready for the elections and that the party was sure of victory at all levels in the state.
He added that the party’s Governorship candidate in the state, Senator Kashamu Buruji is adequately prepared and that this is a landmark election that is coming after 20 years of consistent democracy in Nigeria.
The statement read further: “We will not allow the APC to truncate our hard earned democracy all because they want to win at all cost. Nigerians were ready to go to the polls before the elections were suddenly postponed without regard to the feelings of the people.
“INEC had assured the whole world that it was ready for the elections only for them to mess to up the whole arrangement and postponed the elections due to their ill-preparedness.
“We can hear the voice of Jacob and see the hand of Esau in all of these. This government has proven to be insensitive.
“The Federal Government and INEC should know that Nigerians should not be taken for granted as we are ready to move forward and change this government that has shown lack of leadership prowess since it got to office almost four years ago.”
Ibitoye then used the opportunity to appeal to Nigerians to be calm and be “ready to be part of the process of removing a government that has failed to fulfill its electoral promises only to start passing bucks, when they promised to change the system before they got to office in 2015.”
He added that there was no way the APC could be trusted anymore by the generality of Nigerians, who he said would do the needful anytime “INEC and Buhari want to allow the democratic process to take place,” and that the masses would resist all attempts by the “APC to rig these landmark elections.”
 has been condemned){kind=link}