Nigeria to Hold Presidential Vote on February 14, 2015

 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.