State of emergency declared in Nigeria
Nigeria’s civilian president declared sweeping state of emergency powers today in violence-torn central Plateau state, replacing the elected governor with a former military general and dissolving the state legislature.
The declaration in Lagos gives President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration sweeping powers to rule by decree in the state of hilly farms and pastures, where hundreds have been killed in recent weeks in fighting between Christian and Muslim ethnic groups.
