West Africa

A Nigerian court on Thursday will hear a challenge against sharia law in the mostly Muslim northern state of Kano, in a case that is set to reignite debate on the place of religious laws in a country whose constitution is neutral on religion, Reuters agency reports. Nigeria is divided …

A Nigerian customary court has dissolved a couple married for 33 years because husband and wife say they are fed up, pulse.ng reported. The court’s decision was based on issues of infidelity, dishonesty, and criminal tendencies,the report said. The man identified as Udeze approached the Igando Customary Court claiming that …

A 40-year-old man poisoned himself and his two children at Shama Junction in Shama district in western Ghana, the starrfm website reported. Before their deaths, the man identified as Eshun had made efforts to reunite with his estranged wife, but to no avail. Reports say he had picked up the …

A phone repairman has been sentenced to 14 years in prison in Ghana after posting nude photos of a Lebanese woman on social media against her will. Solomon Doga, 22, was convicted in a court in the Adenta suburb of Accra after pleading guilty to charges of sexual extortion and …

Gunmen killed eight people and kidnapped 38 others in an attack on two churches in the northern state of Kaduna on Sunday, Reuters reported, citing an official from the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). Kaduna state’s Commissioner of Internal Security Samuel Aruwan said an unknown number of criminals on motorcycles …

More than 130 civilians have been killed in central Mali in attacks attributed to Al-Qaeda-affiliated jihadists, local media reported. This tragedy is one of the country’s worst known massacres and the latest in an ongoing series of killings across the country. Local elected officials have reported scenes of systematic massacres …

Three former Nigeria football officials who were kidnapped by gunmen on Saturday night have been freed, a police spokesperson has confirmed without giving details. The kidnappers had demanded a ransom before setting the trio – including a former secretary-general of the country’s football federation – free. Ahmed Sani Toro spent …

At least sixty political parties in Burkina Faso are demanding the full release of former President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, overthrown by the military in January. The leaders of these political parties demand “the preservation of the physical and moral integrity” of President Kaboré. “We also undertake to always work …

Three people died and two others injured after an attack by gunmen on two churches in Kaduna State, northwest Nigeria, local media reported. The state’s Commissioner of Internal Security Samuel Aruwan said an unknown number of criminals on motorcycles entered four villages in co-ordinated attacks robbing people and later targeted …

The US embassy in Mali has issued an alert over a possible terror attack in the capital, Bamako, that could target key government facilities and public places. This is the third alert issued by the US embassy in Mali since March 2021. The latest advisory came days after 22 civilians …