Opinion

As Nigerian Elections Near, Boko Haram Persists

Stratfor Military Analyst Sim Tack and Vice President of Africa Analysis Mark Schroeder discuss Boko Haram’s continued attacks in Nigeria and the effect they may have on the upcoming presidential elections.
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Video Transcript

Sim Tack: I’m Sim Tack, military analyst at Stratfor. And with me today is Mark Schroeder, our vice president for Africa analysis. We'll be talking about recent events surrounding the Boko Haram insurgency in northern Nigeria. So mark, just in the last few days we’ve seen several attacks in Maiduguri up in Borno state. We’ve seen attacks going into Cameroon over the last few weeks. And then we’ve seen Boko Haram militants push Nigerian military out of a base up and near Lake Chad. What is actually going on there and how much does this matter to the Nigerian government?

Mark Schroeder: So book haram you’re absolutely correct has been conducting a fairly intense insurgency operation, still largely concentrated in northeastern Nigeria. We have seen a few operations across the border into Cameroon and the extreme north of Cameroon. Boko Haram is still a threat to expand its operations outside of northeastern Nigeria to other regions of Nigeria. But you’re absolutely correct that Boko Haram has waged a very intense insurgency and the Nigerian government and its military has really struggled to counter the militant group.