Police in Nigeria's central plateau state have decided to ban the operation of all commercial football viewing centers in the state throughout the one-month 2014 World Cup, which opens in Brazil Thursday.
"This precautionary measure is aimed at forestalling warnings of impending attacks on these viewing centers by any person or group of persons and to secure an atmosphere of peace and security in the state," Plateau police spokesman Dominic Esin said in a statement.
"The State Police command strongly advises football fans to stay away from such centers or watch all the matches of the Brazil 2014 FIFA World Cup in their respective houses," he added.
The ban came a few hours before the launch of the 20th World Cup in Brazil.
The one-month-long tournament will feature a total of 64 matches involving 32 teams from five continents.
Nigeria's Super Eagles, Africa's current champion, will take on Argentina, Iran and Bosnia-Herzegovina in Group F.
The African powerhouse is making its fifth appearance at the quadrennial tournament.
The ban in Plateau comes barely 24 hours after authorities in the restive Adamawa state had imposed a similar measure.
Endemic power failures often force Nigerian football fans to resort to watching must-see matches at local viewing centers.
But viewing centers in the restive northeast states of Borno and Adamawa have been increasingly targeted by militants.
At least 14 people were killed when a suicide bomber struck close to a viewing center in Mubi, a town in Adamawa State.
Almost a week earlier a bomb attack close to a viewing center in Jos killed the bomber and two others.
In March, twin car bombings near a viewing center and a local shopping center in Maiduguri the provincial capital of Borno State, killed at least 45 people.
The states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe have been the hardest hit by Nigeria's five-year-old Boko Haram insurgency.
By Rafiu Ajakaye
englishnews@aa.com.tr
www.aa.com.tr/en
