File Photo: Members of Nigeria's Boko Haram militant group (AFP Photo)
Nigeria's main opposition leader Mohammadu Buhari on Saturday condemned deadly Boko Haram attacks this weeks in two cities repeatedly hit by the extremist group which seeks to impose an Islamist state in the mainly Muslim north.
At least 31 people were killed on Thursday following a twin blast in central city of Jos, near the site where a similar attack in May killed 118 people. On Wednesday four people lost their lives in Kano, northern Nigeria's largest city when two female bombers detonated their explosives in a market.
The attack came less than two weeks after a horrific attack at Kano's central mosque that left some 120 dead.
"I condemn, unreservedly and with every strength in me, the recent terrorist attacks in Kano and Jos, the two historic cities that are known for their rich cultural and religious heritage," Buhari said in a statement.
"Once again, those who seek to influence our way of life, modify our faith and our most sacred core values, have struck, leaving in their wake lives brutally cut short, limbs badly broken and dreams forced to fade away," he said.
Buhari who this week emerged as the presidential candidate of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in next year's vote said the extremists blamed for some 13,000 deaths since 2009 would not succeed.
"We will together see the end of them and their reign of terror. They have failed because Nigeria will remain strong and united in the face of what has now become an almost daily infliction of terror on a defenceless people," he said. Buhari has previously criticised the group called for political will on the part of the country's leaders to tame the Islamists.
In July, Buhari narrowly escaped with his life after a suicide attack on his car as it travelled through the northern city of Kaduna.
Two months earlier, he had criticised Boko Haram as "mindless bigots masquerading as Muslims" for kidnapping more than 200 schoolgirls from northeastern Nigeria.
Buhari will face President Goodluck Jonathan on February 14, 2015 as the APC seeks to unseat the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the first time since 1999.
He has previously contested but failed to win the presidency in 2003, 2007, alleging irregularities in the elections.