Video: Nigeria’s election will not hold in peace – Boko Haram leader Shekau

 Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau vowed to disrupt Nigeria’s general
election in a new video released Tuesday, after two suicide attacks in
the northeast blamed on the Islamists killed 38 people. “This election
will not be held even if we are dead. Even if we are not alive Allah
will never allow you to do it,” Shekau said in the Hausa language,
presumably referring to the polls scheduled for March 28. The video
appeared to be the first message released by the group on Twitter, a
sign of its changing media tactics after previous messages were
distributed to journalists on DVD. Shekau was shown in unusual clarity
in front of a solid blue background, dressed in black and with an
automatic weapon resting to his right. He also claimed a weekend attack
in the northeast Nigerian city of Gombe, which the military says was
repelled. The Islamist leader, declared a global terrorist by the United
States and sanctioned by the United Nations, disputed the military’s
account of the Gombe clashes, claiming that his fighters overran troops
and freed insurgents from prison.