ECOWAS chair Mahama meets Jonathan over Boko Haram

Accra – The ECOWAS Chairman, Ghana’s President John Mahama, is to hold discussions with  President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja, on the atrocities of the Islamist sect, Boko Haram in the country.

A statement from the Ghanaian presidency said that the discussions would be held  today on the sidelines of the 2014 World Economic Forum for Africa being held in Abuja.

The statement said that the discussions would focus on the security situation in Nigeria in view of the deadly and destructive activities of the Boko Haram terrorist group.

President Mahama has already written on behalf of his colleague heads of state of West Africa to the Nigerian President.

Mahama expressed concern, solidarity and support of ECOWAS member-states to the government and people of Nigeria as they address the pressing security challenges.

Boko Haram, which means “Western education is a sin’’ has claimed responsibility for the abduction of over 200 girls in a secondary school in the northeast of the country with the leader of the group, Abubakar Shekau, threatening to sell them.

The abduction has attracted a worldwide condemnation with various countries, including the U.S. and UK, pledging assistance.

It has also generated a huge uproar in Nigeria where the population has questioned the commitment of the government to end the reign of terror being unleashed on the country by the group that has killed thousands of Nigerians.

Reports further emerged of the killing of scores of people in another part of northeast Nigeria, giving the country a bad image on insecurity.

Abuja was a recent target of Boko Haram as the capital recorded two bomb blasts at a bus station, two weeks apart killing dozens of people.

 

ECOWAS chair Mahama meets Jonathan over Boko Haram