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AFP
Lagos
In Nigeria, where religious and ethnic identity often determines support for a candidate, Mudi Bawa might well have been expected to vote for Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.
Both are northern Muslims. But the fisherman had another reason to choose Buhari: the hope he could help him return to the home he had to flee when Boko Haram attacked.
“There was tremendous improvement in security when Buhari became president,” said Bawa, from Baga, in the northeastern state of Borno.
“But unfortunately, in the last few months Boko Haram have resurfaced... The security situation has deteriorated,” he said. Few but the hardest of hardline presidential supporters would disagree with Bawa’s assessment, as the country once again prepares to go to the polls.
In opposition, Buhari benefited politically from the fall-out of the conflict, which saw the jihadists capture swathes of territory and declare a caliphate.
President Goodluck Jonathan was lambasted for his government’s response to the threat, and particularly his reaction to the high-profile kidnapping of 219 schoolgirls.
Buhari, the former army general who once headed a military government in the 1980s, was seen as a better bet to restore order. He made a strong start, recognising the need to re-energise the moribund regional force and rally the international community for support against extremism.
Lost ground was recovered; the threat to sovereignty diminished; soldiers’ morale improved as more equipment was provided.
Thousands of hostages were rescued or released, including 107 of the 219 kidnapped Chibok girls; many internally displaced people began to return home.
In December 2015, Buhari was confident enough to declare Boko Haram “technically” defeated. But the truth of that statement has since been repeatedly questioned.
Suicide bombings and hit-and-run raids persisted, while troops were unable to stop another mass abduction of more than 100 schoolgirls from the town of Dapchi.
More concerning still, according to analysts, is the wave of attacks by the Islamic State West Africa Province faction of Boko Haram against military bases.
The latest happened on Monday in the remote town of Rann, near the border with Cameroon. A coordinated response from regional partners once again appears to be lacking. This month, even Buhari acknowledged Nigerian troops were exhausted and demoralised.
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16/01/2019
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