The Nigerian electoral commission says the general elections were postponed by a week because of delays in transporting electoral materials.

The chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmoud Yakubu, said on Saturday in Abuja that the commission will conduct an audit of all sensitive materials distributed across the country before the rescheduled polls on February 23.

“Apart from these logistical challenges, we also faced what may well be attempts to sabotage our preparations. In a space of two week, we had to deal with serious fire incidents in three of our offices,” the election chief said.

INEC has also ruled out further campaigning by political parties and any extension of the collection of voter cards.

It was only hours before Nigerians were due to head to the polls to choose their next president and parliamentary representatives, that the commission pulled the plug, announcing a one-week delay until February 23 to resolve all logistics problems.

The move has left opposition supporters and members of civil society disillusioned.

“INEC’s shocking announcement has far-reaching consequences on the integrity of the elections, the confidence of citizens on its abilities and could potentially dampen the enthusiasm of millions of Nigerians who have eagerly waited and prepared to participate in today’s elections,” the civil society group, Election Network, said.

“Many Nigerians have travelled to their voting centres to participate in the elections. There is now an open question on whether they would be willing to return to their bases only to make the trip again in a few days in order to exercise their civic duties,” the group added.

One voter, Chioma Agwuegbo, is disappointed by the INEC’s late decision to postpone the vote.

“The elections were postponed at 2.40am on election day. Come on! Did they just find out about the logistics issues on Friday night? It’s a disgrace and totally disrespectful to Nigerians. It appears we have not learned any lessons from 2015,” Agwuegbo told Al Jazeera.

Angry members of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gathered outside its headquarters in the capital, Abuja, on Saturday, awaiting a briefing by their leaders.

Sulaiman Usman, a member of PDP, is worried that the rescheduled polls might be manipulated.

“They know our candidate Atiku Abubakar will win the election. That is why I feel they decided to give the ruling party more time to campaign. I am confident, my party will win even if they postpone the elections again. We won’t allow them to rig [the vote].”

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is also not happy.

“We condemn and deprecate this tardiness of the electoral umpire in strongest terms possible,” President Muhammadu Buhari’s campaign council spokesman Festus Keyamo said.

(Source: Aljazeera)