– Regional fightback –
Troops from Nigeria, backed by soldiers from Chad, Cameroon and Niger, have recently begun a joint fightback against Boko Haram as the conflict has spilled beyond Nigeria’s borders.
Since the turn of the year, the militant group has increased the intensity of its campaign, in part to further undermine the democratic process, which it views as un-Islamic.
Jega has previously conceded that voting would not go ahead in areas under Islamist control, raising questions about whether those displaced by the violence would be able to vote.
The insurgency has killed at least 13,000 people and pushed more than a million from their homes since 2009.
The APC has said the result of the election will come into question if the huge numbers of voters made homeless by the violence are disenfranchised.
Jega said national security adviser Sambo Dasuki and the country’s defence chiefs were unanimous in agreement that “security cannot be guaranteed” on February 14.
The INEC’s concerns about security were not confined to the northeast where the fighting is concentrated, he added.
Political commentator Chris Ngwodo said the argument about not having troops on hand for the election was erroneous, as the police and national civil defence corps provide security on polling day.
Jega had also been under pressure to delay the election because of increased concerns over the distribution of permanent voter cards to 68.8 million registered electors.
As of Thursday, he said that 45,829,808 or 66.58 percent of the cards had been distributed and that INEC was “substantially ready for the general election as scheduled”.
But advice since then had left it in no doubt that “it would be unconscionable to deploy personnel and voters” without adequate security, he told a news conference in Abuja.
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