Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan has cancelled his planned state visit to Namibia, due to start Thursday (9May), and
will be returning home, after dozens of people were killed in a series of violent attacks that have rocked Africa’s most populous nation in recent times.
‘The President is returning to Abuja immediately to personally oversee efforts by national security agencies to contain the fresh challenges to national security which have emerged this week in Borno, Plateau and Nassarawa States,’ presidential spokesman Reuben Abati said in a statement made available to news agencies.
‘President Jonathan will, on arrival, meet with the Chief of Defence Staff, the Service Chiefs, the Inspector-General of Police and heads of national security services on arrival to review the security situation in the country,’ Abati said.
President Jonathan left Nigeria Monday for a state visit to South Africa and also to attend the 8-10 May World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town.
He was scheduled to leave South Africa for a state visit to Namibia Thursday.
An attack by suspected Boko Haram gunmen on Bama in northern Borno state Tuesday left 55 people dead, including policemen, prison officials, and three children.
On the same day, a militia group in northern Nassarawa attacked policemen sent to arrest its leader, killing at least 30 policemen.
Nigeria has been in the throes of attacks by Islamists in the predominantly-Muslim north, while kidnappers and armed robbers have been holding sway in the south, tasking the country’s security agencies to the limit.