President Barack Obama
The United States government has
thrown its weight behind the Federal Government to conduct this year’s
general elections despite the fact that the country is facing security
challenges.
This view was expressed on Tuesday at the US Department of States’ daily briefing in Washington.
The US government also said that the
recent incessant attacks by the Boko Haram insurgents could be as a
result of the approaching general elections in Nigeria.
“There has been a sharp escalation in
the number of reported casualties. I think the numbers tend to be from
about 2009 to 2013 – there were a little over 1,000 casualties. I mean,
we’ve obviously all seen the reported numbers just this week – which we
can’t confirm exactly, but it clearly shows there’s been a sharp
escalation.
“It’s because Boko Haram has tended to,
particularly around something like an election, used political issues or
sensitivities to try and inflame tensions. We’ve seen that as one of
their tactics, and that’s why it’s so important to move forward with the
election, because we believe it’s important. Well, I don’t want to
prejudge.
“We’ve seen successful elections go
forward in places that have pretty significant levels of violence. So,
we believe the election should go forward. We know there are security
challenges. We do think that the election is probably a factor. As I
said, we believe the election should still go forward, even in the face
of this pretty horrific violence,” Marie Harf, the US spokeswoman, told
journalists.
According to her, the US government will
continue to assist President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration in
fighting terrorism, despite the fact that a training programme by the US
for Nigeria’s military personnel was cancelled by Nigeria late last
year.
Punch
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