Election to be postponed amidst Boko
Haram violence
2015-02-07 13:19

Dakar— INEC will postpone the February 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.

The official, who is knowledgeable of the
discussions, said the Independent National
Electoral Commission will announce the
postponement later Saturday. He spoke on
condition of anonymity because of the
sensitivity of the issue.

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.
African Union officials and representatives of
countries supporting the initiative were ending
a three-day meeting Saturday in Yaounde,
Cameroon's capital, to finalize details of a
7,500-strong force from Nigeria and its
neighbors Chad, Cameroon, Benin and Niger.

Details of funding, with the Africans wanting
the United Nations and European Union to pay,
may delay the mission.

Nigeria's home-grown extremist group has
responded with attacks on one town in
Cameroon and two in Niger this week. Officials
said more than 100 civilians were killed and
500 wounded in Cameroon. Niger said about
100 insurgents and one civilian died in attacks
Friday. Several security forces from both
countries were killed.

International concern has increased along with
the death toll: Some 10,000 killed in the
uprising in the past year compared to 2,000 in
the four previous years, according to the U.S.
Council on Foreign Relations.

Officials in President Goodluck Jonathan's
administration have supported postponing the
Feb. 14 vote.

Any delay is opposed by an opposition coalition
fielding former military dictator Muhammadu
Buhari, though the opposition stands to take
most votes in the northeast.

Supporters of both sides are threatening
violence if their candidate does not win. Some
800 people were killed in riots in the mainly
Muslim north after Buhari, a Muslim, lost 2011
elections to Jonathan, a Christian from the
south.

Analysts say the vote is too close to call, the
most tightly contested election since decades
of military dictatorship ended in 1999.

Jonathan's party has won every election since
then but the failure of the military to curb the
5-year Islamic uprising, growing corruption
and an economy hit by halved oil prices have
hurt the president of Africa's biggest oil
producer and most populous nation of about
170 million.

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.


source: News24.com.ng

Whether they postponed the election by 12 months GMB will still win. So no problem we will wait.