From AFP and The Vanguard

ABUJA — Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan on Saturday declared a state of emergency in areas hard hit by violence blamed on Islamist sect Boko Haram and announced the closure of part of the country's borders.

"While the search for lasting solutions is ongoing, it has become imperative to take some decisive measures necessary to restore normalcy in the country especially within the affected communities . . . Consequently, I have... declared a state of emergency in the following parts of the federation," he said, listing parts of the states of Plateau, Yobe, Borno and Niger.

The sect, “started as a harmless group….They have now grown cancerous,” he said, speaking at a church in Madalla, outside the capital Abuja, where 44 people were killed during a Christmas bomb attack claimed by the group. “And Nigeria, being the body, they want to kill it. But nobody will allow them to do that,” he said.

Jonathan also said he had "directed the closure of the land borders contiguous to the affected (areas) so as to control incidences of cross-border terrorist activities".