Gunmen kidnap more than 75 people in north-west Nigeria
Maiduguri, Nigeria Reuters Armed gunmen kidnapped at least 75 people from a village in north-west Nigeria, residents said on Saturday, the latest in a slew of abductions that have plagued the West African country’s west. The spate of kidnappings has thwarted all security forces’ efforts to stem the crimes, often carried out for ransom, and […]
Essay: Nigeria’s Twitter ban could backfire, hurting the economy and democracy
In an article first published on The Conversation, JEFF CONROY KRUTZ, associate professor of political science at Michigan State University, looks at Nigeria’s decision to ban Twitter…
Nigeria says it suspends Twitter days after President’s post removed
Abuja, NigeriaReuters Nigeria said on Friday it had indefinitely suspended Twitter’s activities, two days after the social media giant removed a post from President Muhammadu Buhari that threatened to punish regional secessionists. Information Minister Lai Mohammed said the government had acted because of “the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of […]
Nigerian police hunt for 200 kidnapped children
Abuja, NigeriaReuters Nigerian authorities said on Tuesday that about 200 children had been seized in the latest school kidnapping in its violent north but they ruled out securing their freedom by paying a ransom. Police were trying to track the route the kidnappers had taken with the children, who were seized in a raid on […]
“Nation is on fire”: Nigerian lawmakers demand action on security crisis
Abuja, NigeriaReuters Nigeria’s parliament called on the presidency, armed forces and police to address the country’s mounting security crisis on Tuesday, with the lower house urging President Muhammadu Buhari to declare a state of emergency. The resolutions come as a wave of violence and lawlessness sweeps across Africa’s largest economy. Security forces, including the military […]
Amid freed Nigeria schoolboys’ joyful reunions, fear lingers
Kankara, NigeriaAP Nigeria’s freed schoolboys have reunited with their joyful parents after being held captive for nearly a week by gunmen allied with jihadist rebels in the country’s north-west. Relieved parents hugged their sons tightly on Saturday in Kankara, where more than 340 boys were abducted from the Government Science Secondary School on the night […]
Freed Nigerian schoolboys return home, tell of beatings and hunger
Katsina, NigeriaReuters Scores of schoolboys who were rescued from kidnappers in north-west Nigeria arrived back home on Friday, many of them barefoot and wrapped in blankets after their week-long ordeal. The boys, dressed in dusty clothes, looked dazed and weary but otherwise well as they got off buses in the city of Katsina. Rescued Nigerian […]
AFRICA: CARDINAL TO FAITH LEADERS – NEGOTIATE PEACE WITH TERRORISTS
FREDRICK NZWILI, of Religion News Service, reports on call from a Nigerian Catholic cardinal for a new approach to tackling the Boko Haram insurgency…
Nigeria exchanges 82 Chibok girls kidnapped by Boko Haram for prisoners
RNS/Reuters A girl holds a sign during a march to mark the one-year anniversary of the mass kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls from a secondary school in Chibok by Boko Haram militants, in Abuja on 14th April, 2015. PICTURE: REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde Boko Haram militants have released 82 schoolgirls out of a group of more […]
NIGERIA: HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION CALLS ON PRESIDENT TO STOP “CALLOUS” KADUNA KILLINGS
World Watch Monitor reports on ongoing calls for the Nigerian Government to put an end to attacks – including against Christians – by suspected Fulani herdsmen in the country’s “middle belt”…