Postponement in Nigeria will cost many lives

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) criticizes the postponement of the presidential, parliamentary and gubernatorial elections in Nigeria. "The postponement will cost many lives, as Boko Haram will use the additional six weeks of the election campaign to terrorize the civilian population and to draw attention to its cause with even more violence," said the STP's Africa-consultant, Ulrich Delius, in Göttingen on Sunday. "This is not a triumph of democracy, but a fit occasion for its enemies to use the election campaign to terrorize the civilian population with increasingly spectacular raids and attacks. There is no evidence to suggest that the new election date will help to improve the safety situation and the enable the people to cast their votes safely." This week, 36,000 more people fled from the violence in the embattled state of Borno. The planned elections had caused a wave of new violence since October 2014 – and at least 3,000 people lost their lives during the last four months.

Last night, the "Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)" had rescheduled the presidential and parliamentary elections from February 14 to March 28, 2015. The gubernatorial and regional elections were postponed to April 11, 2015.

The controversial decision was a surprise, because the INEC had insisted on the original election date only 24 hours before, categorically rejecting all calls for a postponement. Now, the INEC justifies its change of opinion with new concerns expressed by the state's security organs. Thus, the army fears that Boko Haram will commit targeted attacks and massacres at polling stations on the day of election to frighten the people. "However, there will not be any more effective measures against such terror in six weeks time," said Delius. In June 2014, the terrorist group started to send out more and more young women and girls to commit suicide attacks – and during the past seven months, the army and the police have not yet managed to effectively curb this kind of terrorist attacks.

Another clear sign that the Nigerian security forces will not be able to come up with effective initiatives to protect the civilian population during the next six weeks is to be seen in the case of the schoolgirls who were abducted by Boko Haram fighters on April 14, 2014. The fate of the 218 deportees hardly plays a role in Nigeria's election campaigns – and, during the last few months, neither the army nor the police have gone to the trouble of making any public statements about their whereabouts.