"Civil society organisations are calling for the resignation of the election chair and Nigeria's security chiefs over the postponement of the election," Al Jazeera's reporter said on Saturday.
According to the civil society groups, which fear election-related violence, Nigeria's security forces have failed to defeat the Boko Haram militant group in the past five years, and therefore six weeks will not make a difference, as reported by the news outlet.
While the chairman of Nigeria's All Progressives Congress (APC) opposition party said postponing the elections was creating a "highly provocative" atmosphere.
"What has happened is highly provocative, I strongly appeal to all Nigerians to remain calm and desist from violence and any activity which will compound this unfortunate development," John Odigie-Oyegun was quoted as saying by the Premium Times Nigerian newspaper.
According to the newspaper, 17 of the 28 registered political parties asked INEC to shift the general elections. However, the parties cited the "shoddy manner" in which the commission handled the distribution of the Permanent Voters Card, besides the security challenges in the Boko Haram occupied regions, north east of the country.
Meanwhile, the African Union announced Saturday the deployment of an 8,750 strong-force from Nigeria and the neighboring countries of Niger, Cameroon, Chad and Benin, in efforts to combat the Boko Haram Islamist group, which is now posing a regional security threat.
Boko Haram recently attacked a Cameroonian border town and two other border towns in Niger in the past days, in response to their participation in fighting the militant group.
The Boko Haram extremist group formed in 2002 but began large-scale attacks in 2009, with the aim of establishing an Islamic state with strict Sharia law. Over 10,000 people have been killed since 2011, according to US-based think tank Council on Foreign.
