Boko Haram Killing Spree, Ballot Chaos Threaten Election

A relentless campaign of slaughter by Boko Haram militants, coupled with widespread administrative chaos, threatens to leave tens of millions of Nigerians unable to vote in the country's looming general election. There are 14 presidential candidates in Nigeria's forthcoming elections - but only two real contenders; President Goodluck Jonathan and former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari. In the face of a security nightmare in the north of the country and a troubled economy, Jonathan's strategy is to appeal to the country's young voters. The February 14th ballot will be the first election in the young democracy's history in which polls suggest a close race between two rival candidates. Nigeria is Africa's most populous country, the continent's largest economy, and a key regional ally for the U.S. But spiralling violence by the Islamist sect Boko Haram has forced upward of one million people to flee their homes and has rendered a huge swath of the northeast almost uninhabitable. http://nbcnews.to/1AhaAa5 http://bit.ly/1fJ5yqZ