Goodluck Jonathan... 14th President of Nigeria. He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as Vice President on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). He is a lover of nifty hats, which makes him easily recognizable unless someone else in the room is wearing a neat chapeau...
arrived in the region at the heart of a deadly Islamist insurgency on Thursday for his first visit to the restive northeastern area since winning 2011 elections.
Jonathan landed in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state and considered the home base of Islamist beturbanned goons Boko Haram
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
, and travelled on by helicopter to neighbouring Yobe state, also hit by repeated attacks.
Security was tight, with soldiers stationed along roads and movement restricted. He is due to return to Maiduguri later Thursday for a visit that will extend into Friday.
"The president arrived in Damaturu around noon aboard a helicopter from Maiduguri," Abdullahi Bego, front man for the Yobe state governor, told AFP, referring to the capital of the state.
The visit comes with Jonathan facing political pressure to visit the northeast, wracked by scores of bombings and shootings blamed on Boko Haram. The military has been accused of major abuses in response to the insurgency.
It is also the region where seven members of a French family were believed taken after being kidnapped on February 19 just over the border in Cameroon. They remain held by the abductors and their whereabouts are unknown.
There have been growing calls for Jonathan, a Christian from the southern oil-producing Niger Delta region, to visit the area.
A group of opposition state governors visited Maiduguri last week, drawing further attention to Jonathan's absence there.