Adviser,said on Thursday January 22, 2015 in London.he had told the chair of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that a postponement within the three months allowed by the law would be a good idea.The main opposition coalition said it would oppose any postponement, and the electoral commission said it had not received any such official communication from Dasuki.
The elections, currently scheduled for 14 February, will be the first where Nigeria’s 68.8 million voters must have a biometric cards – a measure introduced to guard against fraud that has plagued past polls. But there have been technical glitches in data collection and officials have not explained how they will hold the election in parts of the northeast gripped by a violent uprising by Islamist Boko Haram rebels.
How Africa’s biggest economy conducts this poll will be closely watched by investors and foreign powers, amid the uprising and an economic crisis linked to low oil prices.
Dasuki, speaking at London think-tank Chatham House, said INEC had distributed 30 million cards in the past year but had another 30 million to hand out.
He said INEC had assured him it would achieve this in time for the February date, but he thought it would make more sense to take more time and there was a 90-day period during which the election could legally take place.
“It costs you nothing, it’s still within the law,” Dasuki said he had told the INEC chair..Dasuki said it was for INEC and not for him to decide. “Why are they not ready? Why should we postpone? We say ‘no’ to postponement,” Lai Mohammed, spokesperson of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), told Reuters. “They know that if they don’t postpone they can’t win. They are just terrified.”
INEC spokesperson Kayode Idowu said there were currently no plans to delay. “It is not a conversation of the commission’s at all. As far as we are talking now, the date is what it is,” Idowu said. USAfriicaonline.com/Reuters/AFP
Boko Haram, Baga and Nigeria’s Federal Republic of Insecurity. By Dr. Chido Nwangwu.
Boko Haram has turned Jonathan’s Nigeria, with brazen impunity, into what I call Nigeria’s Federal Republic of Insecurity. Borno and nearby areas have become Boko violent playgrounds, the capital territory of their medieval Caliphate. We cannot have two Commanders-in-Chief in one country: Abubakar Shekau and President Jonathan. For President Jonathan, again, stand firm and Be Nigeria’s duly elected and only Commander-in-Chief; or…..
USAfrica, Houston:On Sunday night January 11, 2015, CNN INTERNATIONAL CALLED me to provide some insights during a live interview on the Boko Haram menace and killings. Especially, at Baga. The bloodied Borno city of Baga. I did.
To understand the level of impunity and violation of the national SECURITY of Nigeria by the violent, terrorist radical Islamic group Boko Haram, you have to know about their horrendous massacre of more than 2,000 persons of all ages and gender in Baga.
Baga is near Lake Chad and had not been conquered by Boko until Friday January 9, 2015. Boko overwhelmed both the LOCAL vigilantes and Nigeria’s armed forces near and into Baga…. blood flowed like a river….
The other implications and points I wish to make:….. CLICK here https://usafricaonline.com/2015/01/12/boko-haram-and-nigerias-federal-republic-of-insecurity-by-chido-nwangwu/
