Culled from vanguard:
Nigeria’s main opposition party on
Tuesday expressed concern that swathes of
voters could be disenfranchised by Boko Haram
violence at next year’s elections, undermining the
credibility of results.
The country’s elections chief conceded last week
that a ballot may be impossible in some parts of
the northeast worst hit by the violence but it was
“unlikely to affect the outcome… nationally”.
But Lai Mohammed, spokesman of the opposition
All Progressives Congress (APC), said some five
million people were registered to vote in Yobe,
Borno and Adamawa, worst hit by the violence.
“This is largely an opposition stronghold,”
Mohammed told AFP. “Five million voters by any
standard is huge.”
If a large percentage were unable to access
polling stations because of unrest or a military
lockdown, the APC would “not be comfortable”
with the national result, he added.
The head of the Independent National Electoral
Commission, Attahiru Jega, said last week that it
was “inconceivable” that unrest could prevent
voting in throughout all three states.
But even if people in some areas were prevented
from voting, it would not affect the credibility of
the election, he added.
Nigeria, which is home to 170 million people, on
Friday claimed to have brokered a ceasefire with
Boko Haram, which wants to create a hardline
Islamic state in the country’s north.
But violence continued at the weekend and
questions have been raised about the credibility
of the group’s purported negotiator.
The APC is a new coalition of the main
opposition parties that ran against the ruling
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2011.
Mohammed said its broad base would make the
February 14, 2015, vote “like no other election in
Nigeria’s history”, with APC governors currently
controlling 14 of the country’s 36 states.
Analysts have warned that primaries to choose a
presidential candidate could fracture the party.
Major players such as former military dictator
Muhammadu Buhari and former vice president
Atiku Abubakar are already in the race.
The APC is expected to select an ethnic Hausa
from the mainly Muslim north to run against
President Goodluck Jonathan, a southern
Christian.
Jonathan faced intense internal pressure to step
aside in favour of a northerner to honour an
unwritten rule on rotating the country’s
leadership.
But the president appears to have fought off his
rivals and is expected to declare his re-election
bid soon.
Mohammed said the APC would consider “the
religious sensibilities of Nigerians” when picking
its candidate but that tribe and faith were not the
key factors.
“We will work towards what we think is best for
the country,” he said. “It is not a matter of ‘it
must be north’ or ‘it must be south’.”
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