JALINGO, Nigeria (AP) – Youths angry at the Nigerian government’s failure to fight Islamic extremists threw stones Thursday at President Goodluck Jonathan’s electioneering convoy in the eastern town of Jalingo, breaking windshields and windows on several vehicles. An Associated Press reporter was unable to see if anyone was hurt.
Police used tear gas and whips to disperse the mob.
From Jalingo, Jonathan flew to Yola, capital of Adamawa state, where officials had declared the route of his motorcade a no-go area. The presidential cavalcade already had been stoned in northern Katsina city and northeast Bauchi last week. Youths in Bauchi flung shoes and plastic bottles at Jonathan’s podium at a rally.
In Jalingo, soldiers guarded billboards and posters of Jonathan, who is running for re-election on Feb. 14. Protesters shouted that the troops should instead be fighting the Boko Haram insurgents blamed for the deaths of some 10,000 people in the past year.
“Why are they using soldiers and other security operatives? They should be deployed to Sambisa and fight with Boko Haram, not with innocent civilians,” one youth yelled as he tore down a poster of a smiling Jonathan.