ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) – Beefed up by new weapons from China, Russia and the Czech Republic, and strengthened by training from foreign advisers, Nigeria’s military is forcing Boko Haram extremists from a string of northeastern towns as the country’s prepares for elections the insurgents are threatening to disrupt.
The military offensive caused a six-week postponement of critical presidential elections now being held Saturday, a delay that should allow voting by some of the more than 1.5 million people forced from their homes by the Islamic uprising. But many refugees are reluctant to return home, doubting whether Nigeria’s military can maintain control over territory it recaptured from the insurgents.
In just two months, Nigeria’s military with help from troops from Chad, Niger and Cameroon has reclaimed about 30 towns and “liberated” the northeastern states of Adamawa and Yobe, leaving only 3 of 27 local government areas in Borno state under the sway of Boko Haram, according to the government spokesman on the insurgency, Mike Omeri.
Even so, there are no plans to set up polling stations in newly recaptured areas, said local electoral commission spokeswoman Rifkatu Duku in Yola, capital of Adamawa state.
“We are not going to risk the lives of our staff,” she said. “Preparations are in top gear for the elections” at scores of temporary polling stations set up by the commission in Yola, a city of 300,000 people that now holds as many refugees.