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Nigeria: President Jonathan declares emergency in 3 states in bid to stem Boko Haram “jihad”
When former president Olusegun Obasanjo invoked the measure twice in 2004 and 2006, he removed democratically elected governors and installed appointed administrators to manage the states, both former military officers.
Jonathan vowed that he would not employ that measure.
“The governors and other political office holders in the affected states will continue to discharge their constitutional responsibilities,” he said.
The troops being sent to the three states will be authorized to seize buildings, lock down neighborhoods and conduct sweeping searches, the president said.
The Boko Haram “jihad” has cost some 3,600 lives since 2009, including killings by the security forces.
But a series of recent brazen attacks have raised concerns that insurgents have become emboldened, with Jonathan saying that the latest violence amounted to “a declaration of war”.
On May 7 in northern Borno state, suspected Boko Haram gunmen stormed the town of Bama in a convoy of seven vehicles and staged coordinated attacks on the military and police, killings dozens.
