Boko Haram's Increased Attacks is Connected to February Elections - USA

The United States Government has encouraged the Nigerian government to go ahead with the February elections despite Nigeria's security challenges.
This was in a statement by the US Department of States in Washington and quoted by #Vanguard:

“There has been a sharp escalation in the number of reported casualties. I think the numbers tend to be from about 2009 to 2013 – there were a little over 1,000 casualties. I mean, we’ve obviously all seen the reported numbers just this week – which we can’t confirm exactly, but it clearly shows there’s been a sharp escalation.

“It’s because Boko Haram has tended to, particularly around something like an election, used political issues or sensitivities to try and inflame tensions. We’ve seen that as one of their tactics, and that’s why it’s so important to move forward with the election, because we believe it’s important. Well, I don’t want to prejudge.

“We’ve seen successful elections go forward in places that have pretty significant levels of violence. So, we believe the election should go forward. We know there are security challenges. We do think that the election is probably a factor. As I said, we believe the election should still go forward, even in the face of this pretty horrific violence,” Marie Harf, the US spokeswoman, told journalists.