USAfrica: A rash of speculations as Nigeria moves Feb elections to March, April 2015

Postponing of Nigeria’s February elections to March, April 2015 unleashes a rash of speculations

By Chido Nwangwu

Special to USAfrica multimedia networks, Houston,                                                                                                        Follow USAfrica at Facebook.com/USAfricaChido , Facebook.com/USAfrica247 and Twitter.com/Chido247

Nigeria’s increasingly controversial 2015 elections added another layer of contention as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), a few hours ago, decided to postpone the 2015 general elections.

INEC decided to postpone the election for six weeks into March and April 2015. March 28 for presidential and parliamentary elections; gubernatorial and state assembly elections will be held on April 11.

Meanwhile, a rash of reasons and deductions over who benefits from the rescheduling have become the main point of discussion among citizens and political activists of Nigeria, at home and abroad.

A national vice -chairman of the APC told USAfricaonline.com the INEC was “compelled by the ruling PDP to move the date” — he had no evidence but inists ot was done because APC presidential flagbearer retired Gen. Muhammadu Buhari “had the momentum to a possible, slim win….” USAfrica reports that President Jonathan’s influential supporters put direct and public profile pressure on the essentially even-handed Jega. Meanwhile the PDP says it is a prudent move by INEC..
INEC presented the concerns of the security forces/agencies who wrote they will be engaged in an onslaught against Boko Haram terrorists — arguing they will not be adequate security detail for the election.

“If the security of personnel, voters, election observers and election materials cannot be guaranteed, the lives of innocent young men and women and the prospect of free, fair and credible elections will be greatly jeopardised,” said INEC chairman Attahiru Jega.

It would also enable INEC to more effectively distribute the Permanent Voters Cards (PVC). In January 2015, in London, President Jonathan’s National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, a former soldier, called for the postponement of the elections. Nigeria’s Council of State which includes former heads of state voted against a postponement.
INEC reached the decision at a stakeholders meeting involving civil society groups, security personnel and INEC commissioners held on February 7.

The opposition party APC has described the postponement as a “victory” for Boko Haram.

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….. 

https://usafricaonline.com/2015/01/12/boko-haram-and-nigerias-federal-republic-of-insecurity-by-chido-nwangwu/

USAfrica: BOKO HARAM’s latest killings sharpen divide for security team at Nigeria’s presidency. By Chido Nwangwu
https://usafricaonline.com/2013/10/21/usafrica-boko-harams-latest-killings-sharpen-divide-for-security-team-at-nigerias-presidency-by-chido-nwangwu/

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Dancing with “ghosts” of BOKO HARAM, President Jonathan, Sultan Abubakar and Nigeria’s national security. By Dr. Chido Nwangwu
https://usafricaonline.com/2013/04/05/dancing-with-ghosts-of-boko-haram-president-jonathan-sultan-abubakar-and-nigerias-national-security-by-chido-nwangwu/

VIDEO of the CNN International broadcast/profile of USAfrica and CLASSmagazine Publisher Chido Nwangwu.   http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/international/2010/07/29/mpa.african.media.bk.a.cnn  

Forthcoming 2015 BOOK: In this engaging, uniquely insightful and first PERSON reportage book, MANDELA & ACHEBE: Footprints of Greatness, about two global icons and towering PERSONS of African descent whose exemplary lives

 and friendship hold lessons for humanity and Africans, USAfrica Founder Chido Nwangwu takes a measure of their works and consequence to write that Mandela and Achebe have left “footprints of greatness.”

He chronicles, movingly, his 1998 reporting from the Robben Island jail room in South Africa where Mandela was held for decades through his 20 years of being close to Achebe. He moderated the 2012 Achebe Colloquium at Brown UNIVERSITY IN Providence, Rhode Island.“I’ll forever remember having walked inside and peeped through that historic Mandela jail cell (where he was held for most of his 27 years in unjust imprisonment) at the dreaded Robben Island, on March 27, 1998, alongside then Editor-in-chief of TIME magazine and later news chief executive of the CNN, Walter Isaacson (and others) when President BILL Clinton made his first official trip to South Africa and came to Robben Island. Come to this island of scourge and you will understand, in PART, the simple greatness and towering grace of Nelson Mandela”, notes  Chido Nwangwu, award-winning writer, multimedia specialist and founder of USAfricaonline.com, the first African-owned U.S-based newspaper published on the internet, in his first BOOK; he writes movingly from his 1998 reporting from South Africa on Mandela. http://www.mandelaachebechido.com/