Nigerian presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday vowed to "lead from the front" in the fight against Boko Haram if elected in the country's forthcoming election.
The former military ruler, who rejected descriptions of him as a "dictator", also argued against further delays to the election and said a free, fair and peaceful vote would boost democracy in Africa.
The 72-year-old from the All Progressives Congress (APC) opposition has been seen as neck-and-neck with President Goodluck Jonathan in the closely fought election campaign.
Some have predicted that Jonathan's Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) could lose power for the first time since Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1999.
In a speech at the Chatham House international affairs institute in London, Buhari asserted that Nigeria had been failed by a consistent lack of leadership from Jonathan in the insurgency.
"Our soldiers have neither received the necessary support nor the required incentive to tackle this problem. Let me assure you that if I'm elected president, I vow to change that," he added.
"We will give them adequate modern arms and ammunition, we will improve intelligence gathering... we will be tough on terrorists and tough on its root causes... in the affected areas."
"No inch of Nigerian territory will ever be in the hands of the enemy," Buhari pledged, promising to return Nigeria to its former role as a stabilising force in west Africa.
The Islamist insurgency, which began in 2009, has left more than 13,000 people dead and forced more than one million others to flee their homes.
Jonathan and his administration have been widely criticised for failing to stop the violence, which has seen Boko Haram seize territory in the northeast and attack neighbouring countries.
(culled: yahoonews)
what I hate most is the DE marketing strategies of APC members... they never see any thing good in what ever other persons do... all the recent positive results been achieved by our arm forces is not commendable because is under a PDP led administration... Fashola condemned the FGN for increasing import tariff on used cars to 35% ...while tax?... you see APC loves Nigerians more than PDP... in a short while another toll gate will be introduced along Lekki/ Epe express road (a trip from CMS to Ajah via the toll gates will cost an SUV motorist a minimum of N5.. ie to and fro N1,000.)what a love..., the current 5% company tax been charged by the Lagos state government... the exorbitant charges by VIO and LASTMA in lagos is to help cushion the effect of the PAYE tax of the federal government.. kettle calling pot black...make una go sit down... Nigerian voters are now wiser than you politicians thought....
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