(Ecofin Agency) - At just weeks to the presidential elections, Nigeria is likely to sustain massive attacks in many states, the information minister Lai Mohammed (photo) indicated this week.

According to the official, at least ten out of the 36 states could be targeted by violent attacks aimed at disrupting the already tense electoral process. Without naming a specific party, the opposition was accused of orchestrating these waves of attacks.

“We have credible intelligence that armed bandits and Boko Haram insurgents have been mobilized to engage in massive attacks and other acts of violence in several states across the country,” he indicated in a statement reported by Bloomberg.

This announcement comes after the US embassy in Abuja indicated that many militants were planning to attack the “security and infrastructure as well as places of gathering such as markets, hotels and malls”, and the UN cautioned its local staff.

Nigeria will organize its presidential elections on February 16, 2019, amid rising attacks by the terrorist group Boko Haram. The current president  Muhammadu Buhari (76) is running for another term while his main opponent Atiku Abubacar (72), denouncing the president’s poor performances, accuses him of corruption.  

In 2011, more than 800 people died in violence that followed the re-election of Goodluck Jonathan instead of Muhammadu Buhari who was the main opponent at the time.

Moutiou Adjibi Nourou