Nigeria election commission asks for more time to prepare for presidential election

Nigeria commission asks for more time before poll

LAGOS, Nigeria — Nigeria’s electoral commission asked Sunday for a delay in the oil-rich nation’s presidential election, warning that a Jan. 22 poll date didn’t give workers enough time to hold a new voter registration drive.

The warning came as a powerful security adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan resigned his post to seek the presidency himself. Meanwhile, Jonathan abruptly canceled a trip to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly without explaining, raising new questions about his hold on power in Africa’s most populous nation.

The Independent National Electoral Commission’s request comes the day after Jonathan formally launched his presidential bid. Less than two weeks ago, the commission announced a timetable for presidential contest, sandwiched between a Jan. 15 election for the National Assembly and a Jan. 29 election for state offices.

Commission spokesman Kayode Idowu said the delay was needed so that workers would have enough time to register an estimated 70 million eligible voters in Nigeria.

“We will be engaging the stakeholders to see if there’s a possibility of more time,” Idowu told The Associated Press.

The commission has yet to even order the computer equipment it needs to register voters. The commission had planned to hold a two-week registration drive beginning Nov. 1.

Meanwhile, former National Security Adviser Aliyu Gusau resigned his position on Friday and planned to pick up a nomination form for the People’s Democratic Party, spokesman Adekunle Adebisi said. Gusau, a retired Army general, is a powerful, behind-the-scenes player in Nigeria’s military and security agencies.

Gusau served as a national security adviser to President Olusegun Obasanjo, but was replaced after he announced his own presidential ambitions in 2007. Gusau later dropped away and Obasanjo’s pick, Umaru Yar’Adua, became president through an election marred by violence and vote rigging.

Jonathan brought Gusau back as an adviser this March after religious and ethnic violence flared again in Nigeria’s fertile central belt. However, rumors about Gusau’s own political ambitions persisted.

The entry of Gusau into the presidential primary adds another challenge for Jonathan, who formally announced his bid Saturday during a rally in the nation’s capital of Abuja.

An unwritten power-sharing agreement within the ruling party calls for the presidency to alternate between candidates from Nigeria’s mainly Christian south and Muslim north.

Jonathan, a Christian from the country’s south, became president after the May 5 death of Yar’Adua, a Muslim from the north. Since Yar’Adua died while still in his first term, some leaders in the north believe their region has another term due to them.

Gusau, former military dictator Ibrahim Babangida and former vice president Atiku Abubakar — all Muslims from the north — say they’ll seek the ruling party’s nomination. That sets up what could be a fierce fight through the party’s October primaries.

Whoever comes as out as the People’s Democratic Party nominee likely will win the Jan. 22 presidential election, as only that party has the political muscle necessary to guarantee a win in Nigeria’s unruly and corrupt electoral system.

Associated Press Writer Bashir Adigun reported from Abuja, Nigeria.