Admitting Islamic extremists now control some of
his nation's villages and towns, Nigeria's president declared a state of
emergency on Tuesday across in the nation's troubled northeast, promising to
send more troops to fight what is now an open rebellion.
President Goodluck Jonathan, speaking live across
state radio and television networks, also warned that any building suspected to
house Islamic extremists would be torn down in what he described as the
"war" now facing Africa's most populous nation. However, it remains
unclear what the emergency powers will do to halt the violence, as a similar
effort failed to stop the bloodshed.
"It would appear that there is a systematic
effort by insurgents and terrorists to destabilize the Nigerian state and test
our collective resolve," Jonathan said.
Jonathan said the order affected Adamawa, Borno
and Yobe states. He said the states will receive more troops, but state
politicians will remain in their posts. Under Nigerian law, the president has
the power to remove politicians from their posts and install a caretaker
government.
Since 2010, Islamic insurgents, according to an
Associated Press count, have killed more than 1,600 people in attacks.
Recently, Nigeria's military has said Islamic fighters now use anti-aircraft
guns mounted on trucks to fight the nation's soldiers, likely outgunning the
country's already overstretched security forces.
Nigeria is also plagued by violence pitting
different ethnic groups against each other in clashes in which dozens are
killed at a time. Dozens of police officers and agents of the country's
domestic spy agency were recently slaughtered by a militia as well.
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