In a brazen show of power, a large band of motorbike riding bandit terrorists has encamped in five communities outside Nigeria’s capital Abuja and may aim to exploit national elections, a defense expert tells The Epoch Times. A whirl of nine bloody bandit attacks in three of Nigeria’s northern states has claimed more than 160 lives since March 20. Tens of thousands of panicked residents have packed their belongings on their backs and trekked into refugee camps, according to eyewitnesses and media accounts. The bandits—numbering up to 1,000—may be aiming to extort campaigners seeking the presidency in February 2023, according to David Otto, a London-based military consultant. The Nigerian government has designated the bandit groups, which are composed of radical Muslim jihadists, as terrorists. “We are seeing a dangerous, new paradigm where armed bandits hold politicians virtual hostage during campaign periods. “In this scenario, politicians are forced to pay access and …