Boko Haram increases attacks as Nigeria elections loom

Boko Haram, Nigeria’s homegrown Islamic extremist group, is increasing the ferocity and tempo of its attacks, destabilizing Africa’s most populous nation as it prepares for elections. The group, which wants to impose Shariah law across the country and is increasing its territory under a self-proclaimed Islamic caliphate, recently massacred hundreds of civilians in the town of Baga last week, with death toll estimates ranging up to 2,000. Amnesty International called it the deadliest massacre in Boko Haram’s five-year insurgency. But President Goodluck Jonathan, the front-runner in the Feb. 14 presidential and legislative elections, launched his campaign last week with no reference to the attack.

We saw dead bodies especially, on the islands of Lake Chad where fishermen had settled. Several persons were killed there like insects.

Yahaya Takakumi, a 55-year-old farmer, told Nigeria’s Premium Times

Boko Haram attracted international attention when it seized some 276 schoolgirls from a boarding school in April last year. Since August, when the insurgents declared they were recreating an ancient Islamic caliphate that included parts of Cameroon, Chad and Niger, they have seized or consolidated control of more than 10 percent of Nigerian territory, mostly in the state of Borno where the group was created. In Borno, Boko Haram holds 14 of the 27 local government areas, including all the border crossings into Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

Under the Nigerian constitution, a candidate must win a majority and 25 percent of votes cast in two-thirds of the country or a state…So, if some towns and villages have been taken by Boko Haram, where will the two-thirds come from?

Lawyer Jiti Ogunye

Africa