Four people were killed in suicide bomb attacks at a camp for those displaced by the Boko Haram conflict in northeast Nigeria, the emergency services said on Monday. Abdulkadir Ibrahim, from the National Emergency Management Agency, said the blasts happened at about 11:20 pm (2220 GMT) on Sunday, just outside the Borno state capital of … Read more
Nigeria’s president has been pictured in London for the first time since he left his homeland almost 80 days ago. President Muhammadu Buhari, 74, came to the UK for treatment for an unspecified illness. On Sunday, he met governors from his party for lunch and was very cheerful, according to a government statement. His absence … Read more
An apparent photo of Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari was posted on Twitter Sunday, offering a rare glimpse of the ill leader since his departure for London for medical treatment in May. Posted from the official Twitter account of the Nigerian presidency, the picture shows the 74-year-old head of state sitting at a table with a … Read more
Nigeria’s former oil minister faces charges only at home but her name crops up in a growing number of international cases that lift the lid on the scale of alleged corruption in the country’s oil sector. Since leaving office in 2015, Diezani Alison-Madueke has been implicated in bribery, fraud, misuse of public funds, and money … Read more
A Nigerian court has ordered the temporary forfeiture a $37.5 million property belonging to the country’s ex-oil minister, with prosecutors alleging it was bought with ill-gotten funds. Judge Chuka Obiozor, sitting at the Federal High Court in Lagos, on Wednesday ordered the forfeiture of Diezani Alison-Madueke’s apartment complex on the city’s ultra-chic Banana Island. Banana … Read more
Nigeria is reviving its search for oil in the country’s conflict-riven northeast, aided by China and emboldened by gains made against Boko Haram. President Muhammadu Buhari’s government is exploring inland basins ranging from central Benue state to Boko Haram’s heartland in northeast Borno. Renewed attacks on oil and gas infrastructure in the southern Niger delta … Read more
A group of community elders in northeast Nigeria where Boko Haram has waged a bloody eight-year insurgency are urging the Islamists to enter peace talks, a move some see as motivated by ethnic self-interest. The Borno Elders Forum of retired military and civilian officials, all ethnic Kanuri, said it was “time they (Boko Haram) put … Read more
Nobel peace laureate Malala Yousafzai on Monday called for a “state of emergency for education” in Nigeria, as she visited the country and met some of the Chibok schoolgirls whose cause she championed. The 20-year-old global education campaigner made the suggestion at a meeting with Acting President Yemi Osinbajo at the presidential villa in Abuja. … Read more
President Muhammadu Buhari is “recuperating fast” and will return home “very soon”, says Nigeria’s acting head of state Yemi Osinbajo. He made the announcement at a press conference on Wednesday morning, after visiting Mr. Buhari at the London hospital where he is being treated for an unspecified illness. Mr. Osinbajo, now back in Nigeria, said … Read more
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari is recovering fast from an undisclosed illness and should be back in Nigeria soon, his deputy said on Wednesday, after a whistlestop trip to meet the ailing head of state in London. Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo told reporters before a weekly cabinet meeting in Abuja that he had been in London on … Read more
Nigeria’s vice-president has returned from a whistlestop trip to meet ailing President Muhammadu Buhari in London and will chair Wednesday’s weekly cabinet meeting, his spokesman said. Acting President Yemi “Osinbajo now back in Abuja from London & will be presiding over FEC (federal executive committee) this morning,” tweeted Laolu Akande. He also pledged to share … Read more
Nigeria’s Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the acting head of government, was in London on Tuesday to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari, who has been receiving unspecified medical treatment in Britain since May 7. No date has been set for the 74-year-old leader’s return and he has not been seen in any official pictures during his … Read more
Nigeria’s first lady has warned the “hyenas and jackals” will be banished in a cryptic Facebook post apparently aimed at her husband’s officials. Aisha Buhari’s comments seem to be directed at powerful ruling party politicians, said the BBC’s Naziru Mikailu, in the capital Abuja. They appear to be suspected of manoeuvring for presidency or deputy … Read more
Nigerian lawmakers on Wednesday said former president Goodluck Jonathan should give evidence at an inquiry into an oil block deal that has become a shorthand for endemic graft. The probe centres on the $1.3 billion sale of OPL 245, an oil block estimated to hold nine billion barrels of crude, to petroleum giants Eni and … Read more
The president of Africa’s most populous nation was last seen in public two months ago and since the start of 2017, he’s been outside the country more than in it. Nigeria’s Muhammadu Buhari left for London on May 7 to receive medical treatment for an undisclosed condition. No date has been announced for the 74-year-old’s … Read more
President Patrice Talon of Benin has returned from a medical checkup in Paris following two operations in France, according to a member of his entourage. The 59-year-old head of state, who left for the French capital last week, returned to the country’s economic hub of Cotonou on Tuesday evening. The post-operative checkup was “reassuring”, the … Read more
The wife of ailing Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has left the country to visit him in London after first attending an African Union event, her office said. Aisha Buhari’s office said late on Sunday that she was first heading to the AU summit in Addis Ababa for a “symbolic appearance” at a leaders’ wives meeting. … Read more
Benin President Patrice Talon has returned to Paris for a “routine” health check after having two operations in France earlier this month, the presidency said on Thursday. The 59-year-old head of state left Wednesday evening from Cotonou after chairing a cabinet meeting. “He announced at the cabinet meeting that he was returning to France because … Read more
An upsurge in Boko Haram attacks and returnees from Cameroon are stretching camps for those made homeless by the conflict to breaking point, as the UN warned against forcing people back to northeast Nigeria. Obinna Orjingene is a doctor for UNICEF in the town of Banki, near the border with Cameroon, where the population has … Read more
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday faced a fresh call to quit, nearly two months after he left the country on indefinite sick leave. “I want to say that it’s time that the president throws in the towel and resigns and allows his country to move forward,” Ekiti state governor Ayo Fayose told reporters. Buhari, … Read more