Nigeria: Goodluck Jonathan vows to defeat Boko Haram ahead of 2015 election

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has vowed to defeat Boko Haram ahead of elections next month.

President Jonathan said: "We will bring justice to the savage terrorists known as Boko Haram. They will be defeated. We will not forget. We will not look the other way."

Ahead of his campaign to be re-elected, President Jonathan promised the government would "act decisively" in order to prevent likely Boko Haram attacks during voting and electoral fraud.

"After the 2011 general elections, some unpatriotic elements embarked on an orgy of violence, resulting in the destruction of lives and property," he said. "That will not be allowed to happen this time around. This government will act decisively against anyone who disrupts the public peace, before, during or after the 2015 general elections.

"All Nigerians, of voting age, are free to vote based on their convictions. It is our duty to defend and protect that basic right, and let no one be in doubt, we will."

President Jonathan's defiant statement came after a spate of heavy terror attacks across Nigeria.

At least eight church attenders were wounded near a church in Gombe, northeast Nigeria, after a lone suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest after failing to enter the church. The worshippers had been attending a special New Year service when the attack happened, according to the Red Cross.

Abubakar Yakubu, head of the country's Red Cross, said: "There was an explosion outside the Evangelist Church of West Africa (ECWA) this morning. A suicide bomber who was restrained from getting into the church blew himself up.

"Luckily no one was killed, but some people were mildly injured."

It is the second attack in the city in under a week. One Christmas Day a suicide bomber entered the city's military barracks and killed a number of Nigerian soldiers who were eating a Christmas lunch.