Abuja, Feb 16, 2019 – Nigeria’s electoral watchdog on Saturday postponed presidential and parliamentary elections for one week, just hours before polls were due to open. President Muhammadu Buhari is seeking a second term of office, but is facing a stiff challenge from the main opposition candidate, former vice-president Atiku Abubakar. But the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu, said after late night emergency talks that the timetable was “no longer feasible. Parliamentary elections for 360 seats in the lower House of Représentatives and 109 seats in the Senate will be held on the same day. Nigeria postponed voting just one week before it was due to be held at the last election in 2015, citing security concerns linked to the Boko Haram insurgency.

Source: The North Africa Journal February 16, 2019 02:26 UTC