President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday made a surprise visit to the
troubled northeast, which is in the grip of escalating Boko Haram
violence that threatens next month’s election
Our reporter in the
Borno State capital, Maiduguri, said the president arrived in the city
shortly before 3:00 pm (1400 GMT) and was met at the airport by the
state governor Kashim Shettima.
He was accompanied by the chief of
defence staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, military top brass and the
national security advisor as well as about 200 soldiers.
The visit
— Jonathan’s first to Maiduguri since March 2013 — was shrouded in
secrecy and came after a previous trip to the restive region in May last
year was cancelled.
Jonathan had planned to visit the remote town
of Chibok, also in Borno, after Boko Haram militants kidnapped 276
girls from their school in a crime that shocked the world.
The
cancellation, reportedly for security reasons, dealt Jonathan a further
blow in his perceived woeful handling of the kidnapping crisis.
Boko
Haram was founded in Maiduguri in 2002 and was largely peaceful until a
police and military crackdown against its then-leader Mohammed Yusuf
and his followers in 2009.
Jonathan’s last visit came before a
state of emergency was declared in Borno and neighbouring Yobe and
Adamawa states in May 2013.
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