Nigeria president vows no further
election delays
2015-02-13 22:25
Abuja - Nigerian President on Friday on
Friday promised there would be no further
vote delays, after the electoral agency
pushed back the presidential and
parliamentary polls by six weeks to May.
"We will surely conduct elections as
scheduled. We promise you. Communicate
this to your homes that elections will be
conducted as scheduled and on 29th of
May, there will be an inauguration of a
president of this country," he told the
foreign envoys.
Also read: UN: Nigeria military needs
'greater resolve' vs. Boko Haram
The electoral agency INEC had on
Saturday postponed the presidential and
parliamentary elections earlier scheduled
for February 14 to March 28, citing
insurgency problems especially in
northeast of the country.
The Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) also shifted state
governorship and assembly elections from
February 28 to April 11.
The United Nations and the European
Union have led a chorus of disapproval
over the poll shift.
Jonathan said that the six-week extension
would give the security agencies time "to
clean up" the three states Borno, Yobe and
Adamawa that are mostly affected by an
insurgency by Islamist Boko Haram
militants.
"If at all they cannot clean up the three
states, at least two states will be
recovered completely and more local
governments recovered even from the
remaining state. So that at least elections
could be conducted," he stated.
This period (of extension) will give them
the opportunity to clean up the three
states," said Jonathan.
He boasted that Nigerian forces will
recover "completely" territories being
occupied by the insurgents in Adamawa
and Yobe states.
"And even in Borno state, the headquarters
of Boko Haram, even if we don't take over
completely, at least 70 percent of that
state should be free for elections to be
conducted," he said.
Troops from Chad, Niger and Cameroon
are joining Nigeria in the fight against Boko
Haram Islamists.
Boko Haram has stepped up attacks since
Nigeria's neighbours decided last month to
muster a 7,500-strong five-country force
to take on the extremists.
The planned contingent was later boosted
to 8,700.
Boko Haram rebels carried out their first
attack Friday inside neighbouring Chad,
targeting a village on the shores of Lake
Chad as part of a widening insurgency that
has now sucked in four countries.
Boko Haram, which already controls vast
swathes of northeast Nigeria, has ramped
up its bloody, six-year insurgency in the
past few months.
The conflict has killed more than 13,000
since 2009 and become an increasing
regional threat.