FG finally postpones Elections

Nigeria Postponing Feb. 14 Vote
Amid Boko Haram Violence
By MICHELLE FAUL
Associated Press Feb 7, 2015, 6:01 AM
DAKAR, Senegal — 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.
The Nigerian 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.

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