Voters in northeastern Nigeria are eager to cast their ballots in Saturday’s crucial election. But the security challenges caused by Boko Haram are immense as DW’s Thomas Mösch reports from Maiduguri.
Only a few days before presidential and regional elections, the streets are lined with election posters of all sizes. They almost exclusively show the candidates of President Muhammadu Buhari’s APC party, which governs both northeastern state as well as at the federal level.
Campaign posters from other political parties are few and far between. Nevertheless, a convoy from the Green Party of Nigeria, which has made agriculture its main policy, stalls the flow of traffic on this day.
Maiduguri has grown steadily in recent years – a large percentage of the more than two million Nigerians fleeing Boko Haram attacks have sought refuge here.
Numerous official and unofficial refugee camps sprawl in and around the city. One of them is Bakassi, located only a few minutes drive from the center.