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* Killing of UN workers in Borno, schoolgirls kidnapping in Yobe latest setbacks\n* Buhari hasn\u2019t revealed if he will seek re-election next year<\/p>\n
* Killing of UN workers in Borno, schoolgirls kidnapping in Yobe latest setbacks
\n* Buhari hasn\u2019t revealed if he will seek re-election next year<\/p>\n
Islamist militant attacks, gasoline shortages, worsening violence over grazing land, simmering unrest in the southeast — the crises keep mounting for Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari less than a year before general elections.<\/p>\n
The most recent setback came on March 1 when suspected Boko Haram Islamist militants killed three United Nations aid workers and eight soldiers in an attack in the northeastern town of Rann, about two weeks after they kidnapped more than 100 schoolgirls aged 11-19 in the same region. The actions have undermined the government\u2019s claim to have \u201ctechnically defeated\u201d the group.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere will be consequences politically; it\u2019s a huge blow to soldier morale,\u201d said Cheta Nwanze, an analyst at Lagos-based SBM Intelligence risk advisory. \u201cIt just adds to Buhari\u2019s woes.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Buhari, 75, hasn\u2019t said whether he will run for re-election, his ruling All Progressives Congress has backed him to do so, and he remains popular in his political base in the mainly Muslim north. Yet he spent more than five months in London last year being treated for an undisclosed illness, and the coalition that brought him to power shows signs of fraying.<\/p>\n
Opposition Disarray<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
On Monday, Buhari started a visit to five states\u00a0that have been gripped by violence in recent months, including Yobe, where the girls were kidnapped, his office said in an emailed statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll have witnessed unimaginable acts of violence this year,\u201d Buhari said Tuesday on his Twitter account. \u201cWe have increased deployment of personnel and resources. The fight against illegal weapons has been stepped up.\u201d<\/p>\n
The government\u2019s much-vaunted anti-graft war also suffered a blow when Berlin-based Transparency International\u2019s latest global corruption-perception index released last month showed Nigeria had dropped 12 places under Buhari to 148 out of 172 countries.<\/p>\n
In his plus column, the main opposition People\u2019s Democratic Party hasn\u2019t recovered from its loss in 2015 and is in disarray.<\/p>\n
While gasoline shortages are causing havoc for motorists, the economy of Africa\u2019s top oil producer is also looking brighter, with the\u00a0Abuja-based National Bureau of Statistics saying it may expand 2.1 percent this year after growth of 0.8 percent last year and a contraction of 1.6 percent in 2016.<\/p>\n
Probable Frontrunner<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
If Buhari decides to stand again, he\u2019ll be the frontrunner, Amaka Anku, head of Eurasia Group\u2019s Africa practice, said by phone from Washington. He would likely manage to keep intact the coalition of political groups that formed the APC and propelled him to victory over Goodluck Jonathan in 2015, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNeither security or corruption is worse now than it was under PDP,\u201d she said. \u201cIt could have been even better than it is now, but it is better than it was under Jonathan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yet the recent kidnapping has caught the headlines, and Boko Haram has played a decisive role in electoral politics before.<\/p>\n
When the militants abducted 276 schoolgirls in an attack on the northeastern town of Chibok in April 2014, it saddled Jonathan with a public relations disaster from which he never recovered.<\/p>\n
The attack sparked a social media campaign known as #BringBackOurGirls championed by then-U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama. Buhari swept to victory in a vote the following year.<\/p>\n
\u2018Perfect Timing\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n
A former military ruler in the 1980s, Buhari pledged to stamp out Boko Haram within months of taking office. Under his orders, troops quickly made progress in pushing the insurgents out of territory they held, forcing them to return to guerrilla warfare. But their attacks have continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe timing and that of Chibok are too perfect, showing the insurgents\u2019 understanding of politics,\u201d said Idayat Hassan, executive director of Abuja-based Centre for Democracy and Development. \u201cIf the girls are not recovered, it will be injurious in an election year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Information Minister Lai Mohammed said during a visit to the school in\u00a0Dapchi on Feb. 25 that the militants were out to \u201cembarrass the government because they have been degraded.\u201d The government said it\u2019s mobilizing security forces to find the girls.<\/p>\n
Open Letter<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
Elsewhere, Buhari is also facing problems. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who supported him in 2015, wrote him an open letter in January urging him not to seek re-election and accused him of nepotism and incompetence in managing the economy.<\/p>\n
In the central region, a key swing-vote area, public figures who supported Buhari are accusing him of backing his ethnic Fulani herders in their conflict with farming communities over grazing land. The southeast and the oil-rich Niger River delta remain opposition bastions.<\/p>\n
While some politicians in the southwest, which largely backed Buhari three years ago, have criticized his administration, it\u2019s most powerful figure, Bola Tinubu, hasn\u2019t deserted the president.
\n\u201cLet\u2019s not let all the headlines lead us to believe that Buhari will be easy to beat,\u201d Anku said. \u201cHe won\u2019t be easy to beat.\u201d<\/p>\n
Source: bloomberg.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
* Killing of UN workers in Borno, schoolgirls kidnapping in Yobe latest setbacks * Buhari hasn\u2019t revealed if he will seek re-election next year Islamist militant attacks, gasoline shortages, worsening violence over grazing land, simmering unrest in the southeast — the crises keep mounting for Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari less than a year before general […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"news-category":[318],"class_list":["post-8374","news","type-news","status-publish","hentry","news-category-national","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n