The
inability of military authorities to assure the Independent National
Electoral Commission, (INEC) of a secured atmosphere for the conduct of the
general elections, may have
forced the commission to yield to the pressure of shifting the dates of the
elections by six weeks.
Although
INEC was reported to have given other reasons for the shift in the dates of
the elections which were initially scheduled for 14th and 28th of this month,
TheCable insists that the threats by the security chief that the nation’s
military authorities could not guarantee security for the conduct of the
polls necessitated the decision for the postponement
Senior
military chiefs were reported to have said at the meeting of the National
Council of State last Thursday that Nigeria’s security agencies were
overstretched because of the scaling-up of the war against Boko Haram involving
the country and neighbouring African countries. The shift was a sudden
volte-face by the electoral umpire which had earlier insisted that the exercise
would go on as scheduled despite concerns over the commission’s level of
preparedness as many feared that a lot of qualified Nigerians could be
disenfranchised following INEC’s failure to complete the distribution of PVCs.
An
INEC official was quoted to have informed TheCable that Professor Attaihiru
Jega was caught in a dilemma when he was informed about the military’s plan to
back out of the whole exercise should INEC fail to extend the dates of the
polls by at least six weeks to allow the operations against Boko Haram to be
concluded. “They told him that it is in the national interest and INEC’s interest
to hold elections in all the states of the federation, which can only be done
if the Boko Haram insurgents are completely incapacitated in those states,”
the source said.
Indication
that the elections could be shifted forward emerged few weeks ago when the
National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd) disclosed in London that
he had advised INEC to postpone the polls because of the concerns over PVC
distribution.
How military chiefs got INEC to postpone polls
Reviewed by Unknown
on
Sunday, February 08, 2015
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