Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, secretary general of United Nations (UN), has expressed profound concern about the forthcoming Nigerian election, calling the presidential polls between President Goodluck Jonathan and Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), former head of State, a “ grave test .”
And as the two contenders intensify their political campaigns across the country, international attention on the fate of the nation is rising even as the United Nations Security Council received a briefing on next month’s polls.
Ki-Moon, in chat with reporters at the UN Headquarters in New York, said: “We face another grave test as Nigeria readies for its election next month”
This is coming as Mohamed Ibn Chambas, his special representative in West Africa, also explained to the Security Council that the Nigerian general election is taking place in “an increasingly tense pre-electoral environment.”
Both Ki-Moon and Chambas link their worries mainly on the unrelenting Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeastern part of Nigeria.
“Boko Haram has continued its violence, killing Christians and Muslims, kidnapping even more women and children, and destroying churches and mosques. Mayhem has spread across the region, and is now having a direct impact on Cameroun and other countries,” Ki-Moon lamented.
