On January 28th unknown gunmen assassinated a leading governorship candidate and six others in the north-eastern state of Borno. Modu Fannami Gubio, the governorship candidate of the All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP) for the upcoming election, was shot in Maiduguri city after Friday prayers. The outgoing governor of Borno, Ali Modu Sheriff, a member of the ANPP and whose younger brother was among those killed, dismissed initial media speculation that Boko Haram was responsible, insisting it was politically motivated. President Jonathan condemned the killings, saying that the era of do-or-die politics in Nigeria is over. Nineteen people were arrested by the police at the end of January in connection with the killings. Borno state police commissioner, Mohammed Abubakar, told reporters that the suspects are political thugs linked with some powerful politicians in the state. However, on February 2nd Boko Haram put up posters in Maiduguri claiming responsibility for the murders and threatening to launch a full-scale war in its quest for liberation from infidels and the government. Boko Haram has carried out several attacks against public buildings, politicians and policemen in recent months, but some officials believe that some of the seemingly random violence attributed to the sect was in fact perpetrated by thugs working for political masters who use the insurgency as convenient cover to intimidate or get rid of rivals.