Twenty one resident electoral commissioners, RECs, of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have voted against the postponement of the next general elections in a mini poll conducted by the INEC chairman, Prof Attahiru Jega on Saturday. However, 16 others voted in support rescheduling the elections to later dates.
The poll was conducted at the meeting Jega held with civil societies and the RECs. 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.
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