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Nigeria: Jonathan declares state of emergency in areas affected by Boko Haram violence
(Reuters) – President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency on Saturday in parts of Nigeria plagued by a violent Islamist insurgency, and ordered shut the borders with Cameroon, Chad and Niger in the northeast.
Coming nearly a week after radical sect Boko Haram set off a series of bombs across Nigeria on Christmas Day, including one at a church that killed at least 37 people and wounded 57, Jonathan told state television the measures would aim to restore security in troubled parts of Nigeria’s north.
“The temporary closure of our borders in the affected areas is only an interim measure designed to address the current security challenges and will be resumed as soon as normalcy is restored,” he said.
He added that his chief of defence staff had been instructed to take other “appropriate” measures, including setting up a special counter-terrorism force.
The blasts have raised fears that Boko Haram, a movement styled on the Taliban and whose name means “Western education is forbidden”, is trying to ignite sectarian strife in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and top oil producer.
Jonathan has been criticized by the opposition and Christian groups for what they said was a slow response to the bombings.
“The crisis has assumed a terrorist dimension,” Jonathan said. “I therefore urge the political leadership in northern local governments to give maximum cooperation to ensure that the situation is brought under control.”
He listed the northern local governments affected by the decree, including a part of Niger state near the capital Abuja, the northern half of the conflict-prone city of Jos, and parts of Yobe and Borno in the remote, semi-arid northeast.
The bombings by the northern-based movement have strained Nigeria’s already fractious north-south divide.
