No official word from the current administration but reports are swirling that the Nigerian elections have been postponed for at least 6 weeks due to ‘security threats’ in the north. Details on the click.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the 36 Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) have reportedly decided to postpone Nigeria’s general election (meant to happen on Feb 14th) for another 6 weeks due to ‘security threats in the North.’ As the Associated Press reports:
Nigeria’s electoral commission will postpone Feb. 14 presidential and legislative elections for six weeks to give a new multinational force time to secure northeastern areas under the sway of Boko Haram, an official close to the commission told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Millions could be disenfranchised if the voting went ahead while the Islamic extremists hold a large swath of the northeast and commit mayhem that has driven 1.5 million people from their homes.
A major offensive with warplanes and ground troops from Chad and Nigeria already has forced the insurgents from a dozen towns and villages in the past 10 days. Even greater military strikes by more countries are planned.
That’s the clean version of the news, however, word on the streets is that the postponement pressure escalated when the Military basically said they won’t provide any security for the polling stations if the elections were to hold as scheduled. TalkofNaija reports:
Military service chiefs have told the Independent National Electoral Commission [INEC] that no soldiers will be available to provide security anywhere in the country if it goes ahead with its plans to hold the presidential elections on Saturday next week because they are too busy with operations in the North East region.
Further,
There were strong indications that Jega and his team were under pressure to shift the elections. The commissioners were being threatened to either postpone the polls or be ready to quit at the expiration of their tenure in June this year.
We’ll keep on the lookout for official word from INEC.
In the meantime, what’s your take? Is this postponement a good thing or a bad thing for the candidates & Nigeria?
