BREAKING: 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.