NIGERIA’S President Good-luck Jonathan has claimed that sympathisers of Boko Haram, the Islamist group responsible for bombings around the country, are holding positions in government and security agencies.
President Jonathan, speaking recently at a church service, said the situation was worse than the 1967-70 Nigerian-Biafran civil war that killed up to three million people.
“During the civil war, we knew and we could even predict where the enemy was coming from,” he said. “But the challenge we have today is more complicated.”
The president said Boko Haram members and sympathisers could be found throughout Nigerian society.
“Some of them are in the executive arm of government, some of them are in the parliamentary/legislative arm of government, while some of them are even in the judiciary. Some are also in the armed forces, the police and other security agencies.”
Meanwhile, protests have continued in Nigeria to pressurise President Jonathan to reverse his removal of fuel subsidies.
The country, which is Africa’s biggest oil producer, scrapped subsidies on imports of motor fuel, which many citizens see as their only welfare benefit, on 1 January.
The price of petrol has now doubled in the continent’s most populous country.
