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Nigeria Postpones Presidential Election, Citing Ongoing Violence by Boko Haram

By Frederick Nzwili, Religion News Service
Photo courtesy REUTERS / Afolabi Sotunde / RNS
Demonstrators gather at the electoral office in Abuja on Feb. 9, 2015. Photo courtesy REUTERS / Afolabi Sotunde / RNS
Feb 10, 2015
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Nigeria’s election commission has postponed national elections for six weeks saying it would not be able to provide security for voters in the northeast region of the country most affected by the Islamist group Boko Haram.

Attahiru Jega, head of the Independent National Electoral Commission, announced Feb. 7 that the elections scheduled for Feb. 14 had been moved to March 28. Nigeria is slated to elect a president for a four-year term. Goodluck Jonathan, the current president and a Christian, is running for re-election alongside 13 other candidates, including his most formidable challenger, Muhammadu Buhari, a Muslim.

Jonathan has been sharply criticized for his management of the Boko Haram crisis and some Western leaders suggested the postponement was a last-ditch effort to shore up his vote.

But church leaders in the war-hit regions welcomed the move.

“Many Christians here had not collected their voter cards and this may afford them time to do so,” said the Rev. John Bakeni, the secretary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Maiduguri.

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Demonstrators gather at the electoral office in Abuja on Feb. 9, 2015. Photo courtesy REUTERS / Afolabi Sotunde / RNS
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