Nigeria has announced it is postponing the February 14 presidential election six weeks due to security concerns and the Boko Haram insurgency.
The head of the country’s Independent National Electoral Commission, Attahiru Jega, told a news conference Saturday “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 jeopardized.”
“Consequently, the commission has decided to reschedule the 2015 general elections. The national elections i.e. the presidential and national assembly are now to hold on March 28, 2015,” said Jega.
“INEC not been a security agency that could by itself guarantee protection for personnel and materials as well as voters during elections or even observers, the commission can not likely wave off the advice by the nations security chiefs.”
Boko Haram militants control large parts of northeastern Nigeria. Experts say conducting a peaceful vote in those areas would likely be impossible.
However, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement Washington was “deeply disappointed” by Nigeria’s decision to postpone the election.
“Political interference with the Independent National Electoral Commission is unacceptable,” Kerry said. “It is critical that the government not use security concerns as a pretext for impeding the democratic process.”
President Goodluck Jonathan is seeking another term. Many Nigerians have criticized him and his government for what they say is its failure to defeat the extremists.
Four West African countries announced earlier Saturday plans to join forces to help their neighbor Nigeria fight Boko Haram.
Delegates from Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria revealed their plan at the end of three days of talks in Cameroon. It calls for deploying 8,750 soldiers in the area next month, where Boko Haram is fast becoming a regional threat.
Exact details on how the force would operate were not disclosed. Cameroon’s defense minister, Edgard Alain Mebe Ngo’o, said that would be like revealing military secrets.
Representatives from the five African countries say they urgently need $4 million to deploy the force. A U.N. representative said she would submit the request to the secretary-general and Security Council, but for now, the U.N. can only provide logistical support.
Boko Haram has carried out a bloody campaign of terrorism since 2009 to turn Nigeria into an Islamic state, but has recently spread across the borders to attack towns in neighboring Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
U.S. intelligence officials said the group has 4,000 to 6,000 hardcore fighters. A U.S. State Department spokeswoman said Boko Haram’s “brutality and barbarism know no bounds.” Civilians, including children, are frequent victims of Boko Haram violence.
Last April, Boko Haram sparked international outrage when it kidnapped 276 schoolgirls from the remote Nigerian town of Chibok. Dozens have managed to escape, but more than 200 remain missing.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai urged Nigeria’s leaders and the international community to improve their efforts to find the girls and do “much more to resolve this crisis and change their weak response to date.”
Yousafzai said Sunday marked the 300th day of captivity for the kidnapped girls and “if these girls were the children of politically or financially powerful parents, much more would be done to free them.” She said that because the girls came from an impoverished area of northeast Nigeria “sadly little has changed since they were kidnapped.”
Yousafzai, the youngest Nobel laureate, was shot by the Taliban for encouraging girls to attend school.
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