“I am promising the whole of you that we shall surely end this insurgency,” Jonathan said at Murtala Ramat Square in the Borno state capital of Maiduguri. “We will surely stop Boko Haram and return Borno to the path of peace.,” reported Bloomberg on Sunday.
Nigerian military forces have been in fierce fighting, backed by heavy artillery and fighter jets after Boko Haram made a predawn raid on the nearby village of Jintilo. There was enough concern that authorities put the entire city of Maiduguri on lockdown. Another attack at the same time by the militant group was carried out in Monguno, a village north of the city.
There are conflicting reports on the fighting in Maiduguri and Monguno. The Gulf News is reporting the Nigerian army used its Twitter account today and tweeted: “Troops are repelling a simultaneous attack on Monguno and Maiduguri by terrorists.” But the BBC is reporting that Security forces told Reuters that the Nigerian military had been overwhelmed in Monguno and had fled to Maiduguri.
Since Boko Haram, which loosely means “Western education is forbidden,” unleashed it campaign of violence in 2009, 13,000 people have been killed and over 980,000 have been displayed, according to Nigeria’s National Management Agency. Most of the people killed lived in the Northeast part of the country, in the states of Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa, Boko Haram’s stronghold.
While the Islamic militant group has been carrying on its campaign of terror in its bid to overthrow the Democratic government of Nigeria, the race for the presidency is also going on, leading up to the election which will take place next month. And just to make sure that the rampant corruption that usually accompanies Nigeria’s elections doesn’t take place, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry jetted into Lagos to meet with President Jonathan, a Southern Christian, and his main opponent, former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari, who is Muslim.
Nigeria is the United States’ largest trading partner in Sub-Saharan Africa. and with Nigeria being the world’s 12th largest producer and 8th largest exporter of petroleum products, the U.S. wants to know what goes on in the country. We are Nigeria’s largest investor, so John Kerry wants to make sure this country’s interests in Nigeria aren’t impacted by a corrupt election process.
It had been suggested by the National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, that general elections slated to begin on February 14 be postponed so that all voters would be able to get their Permanent Voters Card, PVC. But the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, rejected the proposal.
“We have assured that the issue of concern, namely distribution of PVCs, will be addressed before elections, and the cards will be made for all registered voters. As evidenced in our preparations, we are ready to hold elections in February,” said the INEC Chairman.
It appears that Jonathan’s party is having concerns over losing the election, and wants more time to prepare, said the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC. But the bigger concern for all the parties may be getting the PVC’s to almost one million displaced people, if many of them can be found.
