Mr. Abubakar’s party, for its part, accused the president of orchestrating the delay to suppress voter turnout. Yet both camps also urged supporters to be patient in the face of a delay that risks inflaming tensions in an already tense election. The decision upended the plans of millions of people, including huge teams of international observers from the European Union, the African Union and pro-democracy organizations in the United States and elsewhere. Observers had fanned out across the country and set up command centers in hotel conference rooms for monitoring the election. Some said they had traveled to areas known for violence to cast their ballots, and that they were now stranded there without the election officials they had expected to rely on for security.

Source: New York Times February 16, 2019 09:43 UTC