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Nigeria's Jonathan sacks security and defence chiefs | Nigeria's Jonathan sacks security and defence chiefs |
(about 14 hours later) | |
Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan has sacked his national security adviser and defence minister, amid mounting violence in the north. | Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan has sacked his national security adviser and defence minister, amid mounting violence in the north. |
Security aide Owoye Azazi will be replaced by Sambo Dasuki, a retired colonel from the Muslim North. It is not clear who will succeed Defence Minister Bello Mohammed. | |
The move comes after a spate of attacks, including suicide attacks on churches, by Boko Haram Islamists. | |
About 150 people have died this week. | |
Last Sunday, three churches were targeted by suicide car bombs in the northern state of Kaduna and people were also killed in subsequent riots and revenge attacks. | |
Kaduna lies on the dividing line between Nigeria's largely Christian south and mainly Muslim north. | |
Rioting flared anew on Monday, while dozens of people were killed gun battles between the security forces and suspected militants in the north-eastern city of Damaturu later in the week. | |
Curfews have since been imposed in both Kaduna and Damaturu. | Curfews have since been imposed in both Kaduna and Damaturu. |
Growing insurgency | Growing insurgency |
Mr Dasuki, the new national security adviser, is a retired army colonel from the north, as well as a cousin of the sultan of Sokoto, who is considered the spiritual leader of Nigeria's Muslims. | |
The BBC's Will Ross in Nigeria says this is seen as a positive move which many Nigerians hope will lead to progress in halting the spread of violence. | |
No official reason was given for the dismissals, but the Kaduna bombings sharply intensified criticism of President Jonathan's handling of the Boko Haram insurgency. | |
The president was also widely criticised for travelling to the UN's Rio+20 climate change conference in Brazil on Tuesday, just as unrest was flaring again. | |
The military crackdown in northern Nigeria has not only failed to improve the security situation it has also led to countless civilian deaths, our reporter says. | |
Some argue it has also prompted the Islamist militants to increase the number of attacks. | |
Analysts say there is real concern that residents could increasingly take the law into their own hands if the authorities do not tackle the problem. | |
Boko Haram, which means "Western education is forbidden" in the Hausa language of northern Nigeria, seeks to overthrow the government and establish an Islamic state. | Boko Haram, which means "Western education is forbidden" in the Hausa language of northern Nigeria, seeks to overthrow the government and establish an Islamic state. |
The group adheres to a strain of Islam that outlaws any kind of activity linked to Western culture. | The group adheres to a strain of Islam that outlaws any kind of activity linked to Western culture. |