When Attahiru Jega, Chairman of Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), announced on 7 February his decision to postpone by six weeks general elections scheduled for 14 and 28 February, he ended one debate - would elections be held on schedule - only to trigger intense speculation as to what the delay might actually herald.
Jega said the Commission had decided to postpone based on the advice of security chiefs, ahead of a planned offensive in the North East against Islamist militants. Two days earlier, he had told the Council of State, a body made of serving State Governors, former Heads of State and other senior officials, that 40 percent of voters had not yet received Permanent Voters Cards, electronic card readers had not been tested and nearly 700,000 ad hoc staff were still to be trained in the new technology.
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