ISLAMIST group Boko Haram has vowed to
make voting impossible in the upcoming
election after a spate of deadly attacks in
the country's violence-wracked northeast.
The group's leader Abubakar Shekau said
in a new video posted on Twitter late on
Tuesday evening that his fighters would
disrupt polling in Africa's most populous
nation scheduled for March 28.
"This election will not be held even if we
are dead. Even if we are not alive, Allah
will never allow you to do it," he said in
the Hausa language widely spoken in
northern Nigeria.
Shekau also claimed responsibility for a
large-scale attack on the northeastern city
of Gombe last Saturday where leaflets
were dropped warning people not to vote.
The latest threats came as the embattled
head of Nigeria's electoral body faced
senators in parliament to explain his
decision to delay the election by six
weeks.
Attahiru Jega, president of the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC), has
been criticised for agreeing to the
postponement on security grounds.
National security advisor Sambo Dasuki
recommended pushing back the date from
February 14 to give troops in a regional
offensive against Boko Haram more time
to secure and stabilise the northeast.
The deployment would leave soldiers
unavailable to provide security on polling
day, he said.
But Dasuki's six-week deadline to
effectively crush the militants has been
seen as unrealistic, even if it allows INEC
more time to distribute more ID cards to
the 68.8 million registered voters.
- Increased violence -
The insurgents, whose six-year rebellion
has claimed more than 13,000 lives and
left more than a million homeless, on
Tuesday gave a renewed indication of their
resilience.
Two suicide attacks -- one at a checkpoint
near Biu in Borno state and another hours
later in a restaurant in Potiskum in Yobe
-- killed at least 38.
Many of the victims at the first were
children.
The bombings were the latest in an
increase in violence since the start of the
year and linked to the elections, which
Boko Haram views as un-Islamic.
Militants have captured swathes of
territory, making voting impossible in
many areas of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa
states and raising fears about the validity
of the final election result.
Mounting concerns about the threat Boko
Haram poses to regional security have
increased and galvanised Nigeria's
neighbours into joining the counter-
insurgency.
Chadian troops deployed to Cameroon to
help fight increased attacks in the
country's far north, while Niger has agreed
to send soldiers to help the fight-back.
On Tuesday, thousands took to the streets
of Niamey to protest against the group and
President Mahamadou Issoufou vowed:
"Niger will be the death of Boko Haram."
But Shekau again dismissed the regional
force in the new video, threatening
Issoufou and Chad's President Idriss
Deby.
- Chadian advance -
Boko Haram, which wants to create a
hardline Islamic state in northeastern
Nigeria, this month opened up two new
fronts in the bitter conflict, attacking
border regions in Niger and Chad.
But the Chadian military, which recently
regained control of the Nigerian town of
Gamboru on the border with Cameroon, on
Tuesday evening said they had pushed
further into Borno state.
Two Chadian soldiers and several Boko
Haram fighters were killed in violent
clashes around Dikwa, some 50 kilometres
(31 miles) southwest of Gamboru, on
Tuesday afternoon.
A militant camp, which is near the group's
stronghold in the Sambisa Forest, was
overrun, Chadian military sources said.
Chad's presence well inside Nigerian
territory is a first and may indicate a
strategy to push on further to rebel-
controlled areas to assist the beleaguered
Nigerian military.
Boko Haram fighters on Monday evening
razed the Borno town of Askira Uba, 25
kilometres south of Chibok, from where
more than 200 schoolgirls were kidnapped
in April last year.
Residents said soldiers deployed in the
town since September last year refused to
mobilise. There have been multiple reports
of Nigerian troops failing to engage the
militants in recent months.

Der plans shall work against dem