Nigeria Announces the Postponement of the Scheduled February 14, 2015 Presidential Elections

BREAKING NEWS

Nigeria Announces the Postponement of the Scheduled February 14, 2015 Presidential Elections

Commentary

by Tom Okure, PH.D

Date: February 7, 2015

The Nigerian government this Saturday, February 7, 2015 announced the postponement of the

INEC State Offices

scheduled February 14 presidential elections. The announcement comes amidst an increase in violence by a 5-year old Islamic insurgency called Boko Haram, a militant jihadist group that has seized about 30 villages and towns in the last year in northern Nigeria and is alleged by international security agencies to be able to go “toe-to-toe” with the Nigerian army.

The supporters of the two major political parties in Nigeria PDP and APC have been threatening violence should their candidate loose the presidential elections.  Political polling of the electorate and expert analysis of the campaigning status of the two major parties suggest a very close race. The PDP led government of President Jonathan has been in power since the end of military dictatorship in 1999. It will be recalled that about 800 people died as a consequence of rioting in the Muslim north soon after the current APC presidential candidate Buhari, a Muslim and former military dictator himself, lost his bid for the presidency in the 2011 elections to Jonathan, a Christian from the south.

The PDP party in Nigeria has been successful in wining every presidential election since the end of military rule. It has made significant strides in infrastructural development in many sectors of the economy but has been unable to contain the Boko Haram insurgency; and a seemingly growing and

INEC Chairman, Attahiru Jega

out of control high level corruption among government officials.  Nigeria like many other oil dependent economies is also witnessing a rapid slowdown in growth as a result of falling world oil prices and a failure in foresight by Nigerian policy makers to build up sufficient foreign reserves to sustain the economy until world oil prices rebounds.

The United States and its western allies have voiced concern over the inability of Nigeria’s military to stop the insurgency in the Muslim north but have insisted that the elections should proceed on schedule. John Kerry, U.S. Secretary of State while visiting Nigeria recently remarked that "one of the best ways to fight back against Boko Haram" was by holding a credible and peaceful election on time.

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A postponement also will give electoral officials more time to deliver some 30 million voter cards. The commission had said the non-delivery of cards to nearly half of the 68.8 million registered voters was not a good reason to delay the vote….Read more

http://news.yahoo.com/nigeria-postponing-feb-14-vote-amid-boko-haram-100041293.html

Civil society leaders, organized in support of credible and transparent elections in Nigeria, otherwise called the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, reacted sharply blasting the security chiefs accusing them of fomenting a surreptitious coup against democracy. Read more….

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/176432-breaking-21-inec-resident-commissioners-reject-postponement-elections.html

INEC PRESS STATEMENT

On Thursday, February 5, 2015, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, was invited to brief the National Council of States (NCS) on the preparedness of INEC to conduct the 2015 general elections. He made a presentation titled “Preparations for the 2015 General Elections: Progress Report.’ The National Security Adviser (NSA) and Armed Services Chiefs also briefed the Council on the current security situation….Read more http://www.inecnigeria.org/?inecnews=inec-press-statement-2