Motorcycles were completely banned on Thursday in a northeastern Nigerian city wracked by violence blamed on an Islamist sect, with many of the attacks carried out by gunmen on motorbikes.
“The ban includes private as well as commercial motorcycles of all categories that operate within Maiduguri metropolis,” Usman Ciroma, spokesman for the Borno state governor, said in a statement, referring to the state capital.
The sect known as Boko Haram, which waged a short-lived armed uprising in 2009, has over the past year been blamed for bombing and shooting attacks in the city, leaving dozens dead. The attacks have intensified in recent weeks.
Such attacks are mostly carried out by motorcycle-riding gunmen who shoot their victims or toss bombs at their targets and speed off.
The sect has targeted police and military personnel, community and religious leaders, politicians, public buildings, churches, beer gardens and a prison.
The state government had last year placed a 12-hour ban on motorcycles in the city, but attacks continued.
Hundreds of troops were recently deployed to the city on the orders of President Goodluck Jonathan.
“If the security situation does not improve following this ban, the government will extend the ban to cover the whole state,” Borno state governor Kashim Shettima told journalists Thursday.
Jul82011