Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday canceled a planned visit to the town where more than 200 schoolgirls were kidnapped by the Islamist group Boko Haram, according to a report.
What was set to be Jonathan's first visit to Chibok since the girl's were captured last month was called off because of security fears, the senior source told Reuters.
It comes just hours after a top U.S. defense official joined international criticism that the president's response has been too slow.
The girls' kidnapping has provoked international outrage, boosted by a social media campaign focused around the #bringbackourgirls hashtag on Twitter.
Chibok is deep in the Boko Haram heartland of Borno State, where state security forces have little control, and details of Jonathan's visit had been closely guarded.
Instead on Friday, Jonathan will fly from the capital Abuja to Paris for a summit to discuss the Boko Haram crisis.
On Thursday Nigeria's parliament approved his request to extend by six months a state of emergency in the country's restive northeast, where according to some estimates battles between troops and Boko Haram have been responsible for more than 10,000 deaths since 2011.
