Nigeria to hold presidential vote on February 14, 2015

Abuja: Nigeria is to hold its next presidential election on February 14, 2015, the electoral agency said Friday, with incumbent head of state Goodluck Jonathan expected to seek a second term.

"The commission has scheduled the presidential and National Assembly elections for 14th February 2015," the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said in a statement. The commission said governorship and elections for state assemblies would be held on February 28 next year. It also fixed June 21 and August 9 this year for the gubernatorial polls in Ekiti and Osun, two states in the country`s southwest where fresh elections are due at the expiration of the tenure of the incumbents. Jonathan has held office since May 2010, after being elevated from vice-president to take over on the death of his predecessor, Alhaji Umaru Yar`Adua, who died. He was elected to stay on for a four-year mandate in 2011. Although he has not publicly declared his ambition to continue, he is widely expected to seek another term in the poll to be held on Valentine`s Day next year. Nigeria is the most populous nation in Africa and its largest oil producer. It holds significant regional influence. The country, however, also has a long history of electoral malpractices and violence, and is experiencing tensions in its north, where it has been working to crush an insurgency by the Islamist group Boko Haram.