Chris Kay, Bloomberg News via CHICAGO TRIBUNE
ABUJA, Nigeria (Chicago Tribune) — Nigeria’s military has six weeks to do what it failed to accomplish in six years: turn the tide against the Islamist militant group Boko Haram.
That’s the timeframe Nigeria’s national security adviser gave to the electoral commission to convince it on Saturday to postpone presidential and legislative elections scheduled for Feb. 14 until March 28. If the military fails in its task, it may request further delays, threatening to undermine confidence in Africa’s largest economy, which has already been damaged by falling oil prices and a weakening currency.
“Public perception is that an additional six weeks is unlikely to yield a significant improvement in the security outlook,” Manji Cheto, the London-based vice-president at consultancy Teneo Intelligence, said by e-mail. “If another poll delay occurs, the chances of social unrest turning highly disruptive will significantly increase.”
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