It has been confirmed that Nigeria's government will seek to extend emergency rule in the restive northeast
for six more months, the justice minister said Monday, meaning the extraordinary
measures will likely be in force for February polls.
President Goodluck Jonathan first declared a state of emergency in Adamawa,
Borno and Yobe states in May last year, saying the military temporarily needed
enhanced powers to crush Boko Haram's Islamist uprising.
Lawmakers gave swift approval to two previous extension requests - in November
2013 and May of this year - despite mounting evidence that the measures had done
nothing to ease the crisis. Speaking to AFP last month, the head of Nigeria's election body, Attahiru Jega,
said he believed voting would be possible in all but a few areas of the
northeast, specifically mentioning parts of Borno.
The opposition part APC has however warned against mass disenfranchisement in the region, saying it
could undermine the integrity of the result nationally.
No comments:
Post a Comment