Johk Kerry Arrives in Nigeria today

US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Nigeria today to discuss the potential for violence after elections next month and efforts to combat the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, State Department officials said.
Kerry will meet the rival presidential candidates - incumbent Goodluck Jonathan and former Head of State Muhammadu Buhari- to urge that they accept the results of the Feb. 14 poll and instruct their supporters to refrain from violence, said the officials, who asked not to be named under department protocol.
He said there was evidence that the militants from the Islamic State group, which has declared a caliphate in eastern Syria and northern and western Iraq, were now making an effort to forge alliances with terrorist groups in Africa.
“It is obviously a concern that they may try more aggressively to try to spread to countries in center and southern and other parts of Africa,” said Mr. Kerry, who added that there was no indication as yet that Boko Haram has formally affiliated itself with the Islamic State.
Mr. Kerry said that the United States was prepared to do more to help the Nigerian military’s fight against Boko Haram, an Islamist group that does have links to Al Qaeda. But underscoring his larger point, Mr. Kerry warned that the level of American support would be influenced by the determination of Nigeria’s politicians to carry out fair and peaceful elections.
“Bottom line, we want to do more,” he said. “But our ability to do more will depend to some degree on the full measure of credibility, accountability, transparency and peacefulness of this election.”
Mr. Kerry met with Mr. Jonathan at the State House, a meeting that included a 20-minute session in which the two spoke by themselves. Then Mr. Kerry rode to the United States Consulate here, where he met with Buhari a retired general who is strongly challenging the Nigerian president in a nation increasingly fearful of attacks by militants from Boko Haram. Mr. Kerry also spoke by phone with Attahiru Jega, the head of Nigeria’s independent election commission.