Independent National Electoral Commission officials take records of ballot boxes to be shipped to polling stations yesterday, prior to the presidential poll today.

AFP/Abuja

Nigeria has announced the recapture of Boko Haram’s headquarters, on the eve of a knife-edge vote at which President Goodluck Jonathan is eyeing re-election against a stiff opposition challenge.
The military hailed the claimed victory in Gwoza as a crushing defeat for the rebels, whose six-year insurgency has left more than 13,000 dead and which Jonathan had seemingly been unable to stop.
Chad’s President Idriss Deby meanwhile launched an outspoken attack on the Nigerian Army, slamming its past failures and accusing it of not co-operating with coalition partners from neighbouring countries in the fight against Boko Haram.
Boko Haram has dominated the election campaign, with Jonathan’s record on security repeatedly attacked by the APC candidate, former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari.
Buhari said as campaigning wrapped up on Thursday that he would make rebuilding the army and security agencies a “top priority” of his administration.
“I will ensure that never again will terrorists find a safe haven in Nigeria,” he added, vowing also to reunite the 219 schoolgirls held hostage by the group since last April with their families.
Reports have suggested that the teenagers, whose abduction from the remote town of Chibok in Borno state caused global outrage, were being held in Gwoza.
But two locals told AFP that there was no sign of the girls in the town, which Boko Haram declared part of a caliphate last August and renamed “Darul Hikma” in Arabic, meaning “House of Wisdom”.
One man who was forcibly conscripted into the militant ranks claimed that Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau personally ordered his fighters to kill women in Gwoza before they retreated.
“They gathered the women who were in large number and opened fire on them,” said Usman Ali, a 35-year-old farmer who later managed to escape, in an account supported by another local man.
The account mirrors similar testimony from the town of Bama, which was recaptured earlier this month.
Nigeria’s defence spokesman Chris Olukolade said a number of dead bodies had been found in a deep well in Gwoza but did not elaborate.
The recapture of Gwoza leaves just a handful of places in the northeast under rebel control, according to Abuja, which has talked of the “final onslaught” against the militants.
Deby indicated in an interview with French magazine Le Point that the insurgency should have been crushed sooner and claimed there had been no direct action by the Nigerians for two months.
“The whole world is asking why the Nigerian Army, which is a big army ... is not in a position to stand up to untrained kids armed with Kalashnikovs,” he said.
Fears about security persist with Boko Haram suspected of preparing attacks against polling stations after Shekau vowed to disrupt the election.
Vehicle restrictions will in place from when polling stations open at 8am today, with a strong police and security presence.
Nigerians have in recent days been stocking up on water, groceries and fuel as a precaution in the event of election-linked violence. Many shops and offices shut yesterday and staff were sent home early.
Some 1,000 people were killed in clashes after the last election in 2011 when Jonathan defeated Buhari and there are fears of a repeat this time round.
Both candidates on Thursday renewed their pledge to non-violence and yesterday Jonathan called for Nigerians to vote “en masse” but “peacefully”.
“The eyes of the entire world are on us,” he said in a televised speech, adding that a well-observed poll would be a “fitting example of political maturity for other emerging democracies”.
Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation, leading economy and top oil producer and a sign of the election’s importance was seen in the number of foreign observers in the country.
Teams from the European Union, the United States, African Union and the west African bloc ECOWAS are on the ground.
US President Barack Obama this week called on Nigerians to reject violence and instead seize a “historic opportunity” for progress.
The military operations against Boko Haram involving Nigeria, Niger and Chad, with support from Cameroon, were given as a reason for the February 14 election to be postponed to today on security grounds.
Troops deployed to the restive northeast would be unable to provide security nationwide, Nigeria’s national security advisor Sambo Dasuki said at the time.
But Nigeria’s main opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) among others claimed the postponement was politically motivated, allowing Jonathan to claw back ground lost to the main opposition.
There will be similar claims that the recapture of Gwoza was announced to seek last-minute political capital for Jonathan in today’s election.

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