NIGERIA: President Buhari Vows To Tackle Boko Haram

Muhammadu Buhari has pledged to launch an intensified military campaign against the Boko Haram armed group after being formally sworn in as Nigeria's president.

The former military ruler, who was sworn in in the capital city of Abuja on Friday, said that he had inherited "enormous challenges", including economic turmoil and widespread unrest.

"We are going to tackle them head on ... Nigerians will not regret that they have entrusted responsibility to us," he said.

Buhari, 72, said he would set up a new military command centre in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, which has been a Boko Haram stronghold.

Boko Haram is a mindless, godless group, who are as far away from Islam as one can think

Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria president

"Boko Haram is a mindless, godless group, who are as far away from Islam as one can think," Buhari said.

Just hours before the inauguration speech, at least seven people died and 12 more were injured when twin bomb blasts by suspected Boko Haram fighters a wedding party in Borno, locals said.

The explosions, two minutes apart, hit the town of Tashan Alade at about 6am.

"Seven people have been killed," an unnamed police source told the Reuters news agency.

"Relations and friends of the groom and bridegroom were just gathering when the bomb explosions happened," said Adamu Illiya, a member of an anti-Boko Haram vigilante group, who added that 12 people were injured.