21 INEC Resident Commissioners reject postponement of elections
Twenty one Resident Electoral Commissioners, RECs, of
the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC,
have rejected a proposal to postpone Nigeria’s general
elections billed for February 14 and 28.
In a vote conducted Saturday by the INEC chairman,
Attahiru Jega, after he met with political parties and the
civil society, 21 RECs said the elections should continue
as planned while 16 others voted in support of a
reschedule.
Nigeria has 37 RECs, each for a state and the Federal
Capital, Abuja.
The outcome of the vote came as Nigerians await INEC’s
decision on whether the elections are moved or not.
Civil Society leaders said Mr. Jega had told them at their
meeting that the commission was under pressure to
postpone the polls after all security agencies, including
the military and the police, warned that they will only
support polls held at least six weeks after the current
dates.
Jibrin Ibrahim, a senior fellow at the Centre for
Democracy and Development, CDD, in Abuja, who was at
the meeting, said Mr. Jega told the meeting that security
operatives told INEC that they were commencing a six
weeks special operations against Boko Haram insurgents
in the north eastern corridors of the country and would
rather not be distracted by the elections.
Mr. Jega announced that the security forces also said the
operations are due to commence on February 14, the
date INEC had planned for the presidential and federal
legislative elections.
Earlier, 17 political parties out of the total 28 voted in
support of an extension.
The opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, has
rejected any plan to postpone the election saying such
calls are sponsored by President Goodluck Jonathan and the ruling party to
stave their imminent defeat at the polls.
It is not clear what the commission’s eventual decision would be with the
latest voting pattern by the RECs.
Mr. Jega is expected to brief the media any moment from now.
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