23 people ‘beheaded’ in Nigeria on eve of election

KANO, Nigeria: Suspected Boko Haram gunmen beheaded 23 people and set fire to homes in Buratai, northeast Nigeria, on the eve of Saturday’s general elections, a federal lawmaker representing the area told AFP.
“There was an attack on Buratai late on Friday by gunmen suspected to be insurgents....They beheaded 23 people and set homes on fire,” said Mohammed Adamu, who represents the town some 200-km from Borno’s capital Maiduguri.
“At least half the village has been burnt,” he added.
A nurse at the nearest major hospital, in Biu, said the 32 injured who were receiving care also reported that many were decapitated during the attack.
Further details of the violence were not immediately available, but the attack is consistent with Boko Haram’s past strikes in the area in the south of the state, where defenceless civilians have been repeatedly targeted.
It was not clear if the raid late on Friday was linked to Saturday’s polls, but Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau had vowed to disrupt the vote.
Elsewhere in Nigeria’s restive northeast, suspected Islamist militants killed at least seven people in separate attacks in the Gombe state.
Witnesses reported that the assailants in Gombe made clear their intention was to disrupt the polls.
Polling stations opened in Nigeria on Saturday as voters went to the polls to elect a new president in what is being seen as the closest campaign in the country’s history.
President Goodluck Jonathan is seeking a second four-year term as leader of Africa’s most populous nation against a strong challenge from the main opposition candidate Muhammadu Buhari.
The vote has been seen as a referendum on Jonathan’s record over the past four years, with an escalation in the Boko Haram insurgency and the continent’s top economy hit by the global shock in oil prices.
Buhari, a former military ruler who has a reputation for fighting corruption, also charges that Jonathan has done little to tackle rampant graft in government, particularly in the oil and gas sector.
The election was postponed from February 14 because of military operations against Boko Haram in the northeast, which has since seen a series of claimed successes against the militants. Many people had formed queues outside polling stations since the early hours or even slept overnight.
Reporters said the process had not started at some locations in Kano, Lagos and Abuja because of the late arrival of INEC officials and election materials. Voting proper is due to start at 1:30 pm.
Streets were deserted of vehicles as stringent security measures were put in place countrywide with fears of Boko Haram violence and poll-related unrest.
The Muslim-majority north is generally seen as a stronghold of Buhari and his All Progressives Congress (APC) opposition.