/ 19 February 1999

POLL DELAY REQUEST

OFFICIALS in a leading Nigerian party are seeking to postpone the West African country’s February 27 presidential elections to give the party more time to campaign, Nigerian newspapers reported on Thursday. Ayo Fasanmi, vice-chairman of the Alliance for Democracy was quoted in Lagos dailies asking Nigeria’s electoral commission that the presidential vote be pushed back at least two weeks. The ballot comes a week after Saturday’s national assembly elections and form part of a plan by General Abdulsalami Abubakar to transfer power from the military to democratically-elected civilians by the end of May.