Reactions have continued to trail the postponement of the 2019 elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission few hours to its supposed commencement. Blessing Oladunjoye spoke with some Nigerians to have their reactions about the possible political and economic implications of the postponement of the elections.
Gbola Oba, a political analyst has said the postponement of the elections would affect the stock market because there would be a repeat of closure of economic activities for the newly scheduled dates for election.
He explained that, “today, economic activities are literally grounded all over Nigeria because the whole of the territorial area of the country is the constituency of the president and we were supposed to have a presidential election. Our borders are closed, and you can imagine the impact of that on our economic activities and that inevitably would be the result of what would happen next Saturday the date to which the election has been postponed and naturally this would also reflect in the level of economic anxiety that foreign portfolio investors and foreign direct investors would feel.
“Prior to this election, enormous amount of monies have been moved out of Nigeria, with this postponement it is almost certain that the stock market would be affected.”
Giving his perspective about the political implication, Gbola-Oba said “the political implications are already playing out, there are partisanships, Counter accusations and allegations, conspiracy theories that are now parading the airways and I hope we manage it very well, because these tendencies have a way of inciting violence and we don’t need it at this junction”.
Gbola-Oba who said he can’t say categorically what the turnout of voters would be noted that it is almost a certainty that the postponement of the elections would affect voters as their enthusiasm might have dropped.
He quipped that “I can only hope and pray that it does not negatively impact the elections next week, but logic and reason tell me that it is almost inevitable that the turnout won’t be affected and the reason is that some people have travelled from different places to cast their votes and it might not be convenient to do the same again.”
About the security of electoral materials, Gbola-Oba said he believes INEC would keep them safe, adding that, “the most sensitive material in this economic and political atmosphere is money and we know that this sensitive material moves about everyday, so I don’t see any sensitive material that INEC has that won’t be protected except there are some mischievous elements within the hierarchy of INEC.
Jide Johson, Deputy Provost, Nigerian Institute of Journalism said the shift in the commencement of the election would put to questions the credibility of the election results. Johnson noted that the two major political parties are already trading blames about the reasons for the postponement of the elections and this could cause doubts when the elections are concluded.
Johnson also said there’s every possibility that the new date would not be convenient with many Nigerians, especially those that travelled from one location to another to ensure they carry out their civic responsibilities. He explained that “this would affect the voter’s turnout, some people have left their places of residents to their places of registration, many Nigerians have travelled from Ghana, Republic of Benin or United Arab Emirates just for the purpose of voting, they might not be able to do the same next week.”
Speaking on the economic implications, Johnson mentioned that “a lot of businesses closed yesterday and we need to understand that the Nigerian economy is guarded by the informal sector, those that closed yesterday can’t go to their shops today and same would happen next week. When you look at it at the federal level, the land and air borders were closed yesterday, same would happen next week and imagine the foreign exchange that the country has lost already.”
For his part, the First Deputy President, Ogun State Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, OGUNCCIMA, Alhaji Wasiu Olaleye opined that the “postponement of the elections would impoverish our people again because economic activities would be shut next week and this is not so good for business. Those that have decided to sacrifice today and probably March 2nd, would have to do the same again. INEC should have foreseen this and the date could have been changed before today and we wouldn’t have had to waste the whole of today.”