Voters in Nigeria’s politically-volatile state of Anambra go to the polls Saturday to elect a governor in a contest seen as a test run of how next year’s national presidential vote will shape up. The last presidential vote which brought … read more
Gunmen have abducted an eight-month old baby for ransom in the southern Nigerian oil city of Port Harcourt, police said Friday. At least two gunmen seized the child from her family home late Thursday, Rita Inoma-Abbey, spokeswoman for the police … read more
Nigeria’s ailing President Umaru Yar’Adua will write a letter handing power over to his vice-president, his adviser has told the BBC. The letter, formally informing the Senate that Mr Yar’Adua is on “medical vacation”, automatically means his deputy becomes acting … read more
US Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Johnnie Carson is expected to arrive Nigeria this weekend as part of his current four-nation west African tour, sources said Friday. The US mission in Nigeria, in a statement, merely said that Carson … read more
Nigeria’s influential state governors backed a proposal Friday for Vice President Goodluck Jonathan to be acting head and end a vacuum following President Umaru Yar’Adua’s lengthy hospitalisation abroad. The decision of the 36 governors came after an emergency meeting which … read more
Nigeria’s oil minister Thursday threatened to sack officials in his ministry if they failed to end an acute fuel shortage in a week. “If they cannot perform, then we will deal with them. We will bring in people who will … read more
Nigeria’s information minister has urged cabinet colleagues to accept that President Umaru Yar’Adua is no longer fit to lead, a BBC source confirms. In the first sign of a cabinet split over the saga, Dora Akunyili tabled a memo requesting … read more
Less than a week after the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) agreed to sell three oil leases to a Nigerian-led multinational consortium, the oil giant announced on Thursday, it was open to selling more assets in Nigeria, where its oil … read more
Down a parched road lies the tomb of northern Nigeria’s most celebrated leader. Legend holds that when the structure collapsed a few years ago the exposed body of Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto and standard bearer of the northern … read more
The Nigerian government warned warned Niger Delta militants Wednesday against issuing threats of violence, saying that they did not have a “monopoly” of violence. The militant Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta vowed Tuesday fresh attacks on oil … read more