President Muhammadu Buhari has departed Katsina for Abuja following the postponement of the February 16 and March 2 general elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The president was scheduled to exercise his voting right on Saturday in Daura, his country home, before the sudden postponement by INEC.
The president, who did not use his official chopper due to bad weather, arrived Umaru Musa Yar’Adua International Airport, Katsina by road at ķ 12.12p.m for the onward journey to Abuja.
Governor Aminu Masari of Katsina State, Minister of State, Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika and other prominent personalities were at the airport to bid the president farewell.
The president is expected to preside over various meetings involving stakeholders following the sudden postponement of the elections.
INEC had on Saturday shifted the conduct of the Presidential and National Assembly elections to February 23.
Governorship, House of Assembly and FCT area council elections were also shifted from March 2 to March 9.
INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, had attributed the decision of the commission to logistic and operational problems.
He said the postponement would afford the commission the opportunity to address the identified challenges in order to maintain the quality of Nigeria’s elections.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has ordered the re-opening of all the nation’s borders closed due to the Presidential and National Assembly elections earlier scheduled on Saturday.
A statement by Comptroller-General, Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Mr Muhammad Babandede, in Abuja on Saturday, said that Minister of Interior, Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (retd), ordered the re-opening of the borders.
The directive to close the borders from midnight on Friday to Sunday was given by the minister on Thursday.
Directing re-opening of the borders, he said that Immigration officers would continue “their normal border control and patrol duties to ensure that all persons crossing Nigeria’s land, air and sea borders travelled with valid and genuine documents’’.
