'The military have sold us to the Boko Haram fighters,' - Boko Escaped Victim

According to Sky news, the terror of Boko Haram has forced a six-week delay for Nigeria's presidential elections - but few Nigerians who have escaped the extremists believe their power will be curbed in that time.

Safety has come at a heavy price for tens of thousands of Nigerians who have run away from the Islamic militant group and are now sheltering in neighbouring Cameroon.

They scratch around for food and complain bitterly at the shortage of water in the huge refugee camp north of Maroua which is now their home.

There are rows and rows of tents made of plastic sheeting supplied by the UN refugee agency UNHCR which now house families - but there are also large numbers of fragile one-room stick homes.

Halima Adam and her five children live in one of them.

Tears roll down her cheeks as she tells Sky News how the militant fighters murdered her husband and she fled for her life, over the border to Cameroon.

A free and fair election in her homeland is not her first priority right now. Surviving is.

"I'm hungry," cries her 12-year-old daughter Aisha. Her three-year-old sister asks her mother: "Maybe they've come to give us food or water?" She's talking about the foreigners in their shack - us.

But along with the tens of thousands like her, she will not be able to vote in the upcoming Nigerian elections.

The polls have been delayed for six weeks until March 28 in the hope that the danger of Boko Haram can be more adequately contained.

But few believe that is the sole reason for the vote delay or that the militants who have grown increasingly powerful in northern Nigeria, can be cowed in that time. 

Many sceptics believe the set-back to the voting could have more to do with the increasingly close race between the current President Goodluck Jonathan, who is seeking re-election, and his rival, Muhammedu Buhari.

Certainly many of the refugees we spoke to in the huge camp (31,222 registered refugees but locals say the more accurate figure is 47,000+) insist they feel let down by their government and the Nigerian army.

"The military have sold us to the Boko Haram fighters," said Yohanna Ayamesi, one of the refugees.

"They're just playing with Boko Haram. There were 30 of us and the militants killed 27. I'm just one of three who survived. The powerful Nigerian army can't take on Boko Haram. They are working with them. They have sold out the poor of Nigeria."

His view is replicated through much of the camp and in northern Nigeria.

The attacks by Boko Haram appear to be every more frequent and deadly.

The extremist group wants to create its own caliphate across Western Africa much like Islamic State in Syria and Iraq - and the violence is spilling more and more often across the Nigerian borders and into her neighbours' backyards. 

Cameroon and Niger have both suffered Boko Haram attacks within the past week alone. Niger had two attacks within three days.

The decision by the five West African nations of Cameroon, Nigeria, Niger, Benin and Chad have agreed to pool resources and deploy a combined force of 8,750 troops into the area by probably as early as next month.

Skynews