Ban Ki-moon Urges Nigeria to Maintain New Election Dates

In the beginning of February, Nigeria's voting commission announced that the upcoming general elections would be postponed by six weeks over the increasing Boko Haram security threat.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the Nigerian government to maintain general elections postponed over security threats and expressed his concern over election-related violence.

"Following the postponement of general elections in Nigeria to 28 March and 11 April, the Secretary-General strongly urges the Government and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure these new dates are maintained, in accordance with the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution," the UN said in a statement published Friday on its website.

Ban Ki-moon also expressed strong concern over reports of election-related violence.

In the beginning of February, INEC announced that the upcoming general elections would be postponed by six weeks over the increasing Boko Haram security threat.

The Boko Haram extremist group began large-scale attacks in 2009 in northeast Nigeria, with the aim of establishing an Islamic state with strict Sharia law.

Since then, the group killed over 5,000 and displaced more than 300,000 people, according to US-based think tank Council on Foreign Relations.

In February, the group expanded its attacks from Nigeria to neighboring Niger, Cameroon and Chad.