U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visit Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria to warn against post election violence. Kerry urged Nigeria’s leading presidential candidates, President Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari, to refrain from fomenting violence after next month’s vote, and he condemned savage attacks by Boko Haram, an al-Qaida-linked insurgency.
Kerry landed in Nigeria on the same day Nigerian troops battled extremists who attacked Maiduguri, the biggest city in the northeast, Kerry played down reports that the U.S. had grown frustrated with Nigeria’s military commitment to fighting the radical Islamist movement.
Kerry said the U.S. was sharing intelligence with Nigeria and stood ready to do more if the Feb. 14 election proceeded in a nonviolent, democratic fashion.
“The United States is deeply engaged with Nigeria,” he said.
“Does it always work as well as we would like or as well as the Nigerians would like? The answer is no.”
Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan said he reaffirmed a strong commitment to working with the United States “to put an end to global terrorism and particularly Boko Haram.”
“I firmly believe that enhancing and expanding various channels of cooperation between our two countries, in the context of growing international coordination, are of the utmost importance,” Jonathan said in a statement following the meeting.
“I discussed a number of ideas with Secretary Kerry to move such cooperation forward.”
Speaking at the U.S. consulate’s residence overlooking the Gulf of Guinea, Kerry told reporters that America and others will closely watch the election in this country of 170 million people.
“This will be the largest democratic election on the continent,” Kerry said.
“Given the stakes, it’s absolutely critical that these elections be conducted peacefully – that they are credible, transparent and accountable.”
Kerry spoke after meeting in separate locations with both leading candidates, President Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari, the former military dictator whom Jonathan defeated in 2011.
Both candidates pledged to tamp down on violence, Kerry said, but the secretary also issued a warning: Anyone who incites postelection mayhem will be ineligible to enter the United States.
