Five people were shot dead in a botched robbery attempt in the Nigerian oil city of Port Harcourt on Friday, security sources said, as Africa’s top oil producing region slipped further toward anarchy. Police killed two of the attackers and … read more
Vice-President Atiku Abubakar on Friday said that nobody or organisation, including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, was capable of stopping his ambition of becoming the country�s president in 2007. Abubakar, who also vowed to release the leader of the … read more
THE PUNCH (EDITORIAL) They kill ruthlessly at the slightest provocation. Sometimes, they do not even need to be provoked. They seem to love the colour of blood. Both in the crocodile-infested creeks of the Niger Delta and the smooth high … read more
The Philippine government strongly hinted Friday it would approve the payment of ransoms to win the freedom of 26 Filipino hostages missing or kidnapped in Nigeria. “Whatever it takes … we will go along with it,” Esteban Conejos, undersecretary for … read more
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has discredited the Cable News Network (CNN) report currently being aired where purported members were shown. Spokesman of the militant group, Jomo Gbomo, while disputing the report threatened to release … read more
President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday in Abuja said he has refrained from using military option to deal with the high spate of hostage taking and vandalisation in the Niger Delta because he has very high regard for the sanctity of human … read more
Nigeria’s federal government accused three state governors from the ruling party of corruption on Thursday as a politically sensitive anti-graft campaign widened ahead of elections in April. In papers filed with a code of conduct tribunal, the federal government accused … read more
The fate of the Filipina taken hostage by gunmen on Tuesday in southern Nigeria is still not clear, the Nigerian police and Filipino diplomats said. “Her whereabouts are unknown”, Felix Ogbaudu, Rivers State police commissionner, told AFP Friday, as some … read more
In the remote mangrove swamps of southern Nigeria, 24 Filipino hostages appeared frightened and disheveled. Around them, dozens of militants, dressed in black and wearing black ski masks, danced wildly and fired their automatic weapons into the air. The hostages, … read more
Minister of State for Defence, Mr. Mike Onolememen has refuted allegations by Vice President Atiku Abubakar that the Federal Government purchased military hardware worth N2 billion for the purpose of suppressing militants in the troubled oil-rich Niger Delta region. The … read more