Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan suspended the central bank governor on Thursday for alleged financial recklessness, sidelining a prominent government critic as he readies for an expected re-election campaign. Lamido Sanusi, whose term was due…
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An attack by scores of Boko Haram Islamists in the northeast Nigeria town of Bama has killed 60 people and caused massive destruction to public buildings, police told AFP Thursday. Residents said gunmen stormed the town at roughly 4:00 am (0300 GMT)…
The leader of radical Islamist group Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, threatened attacks in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta region in a new video released on Wednesday. “You will in coming days see your refinery bombed,” Shekau warned in the 28-minute video…
Suspected Boko Haram Islamists armed with explosives attacked a town in Nigeria’s troubled northeast on Wednesday, sparking a battle with soldiers that killed a large number of insurgents, the military said. Defence spokesman Chris Olukolade told AFP…
Nigeria is winning the war against Boko Haram Islamists in the restive northeast that has claimed thousands of lives, a presidential spokesman said Tuesday, dismissing suggestions the insurgents were having the upper hand. “We state authoritatively…
The governor of Nigeria’s embattled Borno state warned President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday that the military is outgunned in its fight against Boko Haram and more troops are urgently needed. Governor Kashim Shettima travelled to the capital Abuja…
Gunmen suspected of being Boko Haram Islamists have reportedly killed dozens of people, mostly Christians, in a village in northeast Nigeria, an official and local residents said on Sunday. “They killed many, many people in the attack late on Saturday…
Residents of a northeast Nigerian town said Saturday hundreds of them have fled their homes for fear of attacks by Boko Haram militants who killed 43 people this week in a nearby village. About 400 men fled Bama on Friday to Maiduguri, the Borno state…
From heroin stashed in human hair to drugs concealed in tins of sardines, Nigeria’s anti-narcotics agency is used to having to deal with increasingly ingenious attempts at smuggling. But where once the west African nation was only a key staging post…
Moderate or heavy smokers who quit tobacco get a boost in mental wellbeing that, for people who are anxious or stressed, is equivalent to taking anti-depressants, a study said Thursday. British researchers examined 26 published investigations into the…
Boko Haram gunmen killed nine Nigerian soldiers after launching an ambush on a military convoy in the troubled northeast, a local official and a hospital source told AFP Thursday. The troops were responding to a distress call late Wednesday in the Madagali…
Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan sacked four cabinet ministers on Wednesday, including his controversial aviation minister, in a move seen as linked to his expected re-election bid next year. Jonathan’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is racked…
Nigeria on Wednesday said it would open a probe into claims of state-sponsored killings dating back to the era of military rule, raising hopes that perpetrators will finally be brought to book. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said a public…
A gruesome attack by Boko Haram Islamists has killed 39 people in a village in the northeast, the area governor said after visiting the scene on Wednesday. “Up to 39 people have been killed and over 70 percent of the village has been razed to the ground…
The leader of Nigeria’s upper chamber of parliament on Tuesday blocked 11 lawmakers from defecting, saying their break from the ruling party to the main opposition would not go through until a court challenge was resolved. Senate leader David Mark,…
It’s been dubbed the “Venice of Africa” but comparisons between the sprawling Lagos community of Makoko and the historic Italian city begin and end at the water’s edge. Makoko’s makeshift huts rise from the murky waters of the lagoon around Nigeria’…
At least 22 people were killed in a raid in restive central Nigeria on Thursday, locals said, in the second such attack in the area this week. Gunmen opened fire in the predominantly Muslim village of Mavo in the Wase local government area of Plateau…
Nigeria’s secret police said on Thursday that it was holding a former militant leader from the oil-rich Niger delta, in the latest crackdown on potential trouble before elections next year. Presidential and parliamentary polls are scheduled for February…
Tens of thousands of people in Nigeria are missing out on vital services because of conflict, with the areas where Boko Haram operates worst affected, the Red Cross said on Thursday. The ICRC said it had helped some 40,000 people hit by the Islamist…
Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday called on his new military top brass not to disappoint the nation in their task to crush the Boko Haram insurgency. He told the officers in Abuja that “the war against terror must be won in this country…