The Islamist radicals who have terrorized Nigeria for a decade struck again on Saturday, killing some 41 people to disrupt the African country’s national elections.
The attacks in the northeastern part of Nigeria occurred during a hotly-contested presidential election in areas where the Nigerian military claimed to have eliminated the Islamist group.
The political climate in Nigeria over the last few years has tended to diminish the power of current Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan. The president recently faced opposition losing the support of dozens of the country’s legislators who lined up behind opposition groups.
This year, the opposition supported presidential challenger and one-time military dictator Muhammadu Buhari, who led Nigeria from 1983 to 1985 after taking power during a military coup.
The terror group, though, has little interest in the electoral process. The terrorist’s goal was to stop all voting. In fact, in one area a local legislator was killed in the attacks.
The government had even postponed the election in order for the military to crush the terror group, but with these attacks it is obvious that goal wasn’t achieved and that failure will likely redound on President Jonathan just as he is struggling for re-election.
President Jonathan lost support thanks to his inability to end the reign of terror of Boko Haram.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter: @warnerthuston. Email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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