Nigerian separatist Nnamdi Kanu has pleaded not guilty to charges of terrorism and treason after appearing in court on Thursday. His appearance in court was the first time he had been seen in public since he was captured abroad and repatriated in June. Mr Kanu’s initial arrest in 2015 triggered …
Read More »Nigeria: armed men killed two traditional leaders
Police in Nigeria said two traditional leaders from Njaba local government area in the Imo state have been killed by armed men. Up to 20 local kings from different communities in the area were in a meeting on Tuesday when gunmen invaded the venue and started shooting sporadically, BBC News …
Read More »Nigerian mafia gang members arrested in South Africa
South African and US law enforcement agencies have arrested at least six members of the Nigerian Black Axe mafia syndicate in Cape Town, TimesLive news website reports. Six members of the mafia group, believed to be behind hundreds of thousands of “romance scams”, were reportedly arrested in a raid in …
Read More »Nigeria: Buhari offered condolences and called for patience after market attack
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has offered his condolences with the families of victims killed in an attack on a village market in the north-western state of Sokoto and called on citizens not to despair. At leat 43 people died in the Sunday evening attack after gunmen raided the open-air market …
Read More »Nigeria: dozens killed in an attack in the north-west
Gunmen on motorbikes have attacked a local weekly open-air market in Goronyo, in the north-western Nigerian state of Sokoto, killing dozens of civilians and burning down shops and other buildings, local media report. More than 40 people had been shot dead during the attack, eyewitnesses said. Authorities In Sokoto State …
Read More »Cambridge to return looted bronze cockerel to Nigeria
A Cambridge University college has announced that later this month it is to hand back a sculpture that was originally seized by British troops from the Kingdom of Benin in present-day Nigeria. The bronze cockerel was one of thousands of artefacts looted during a punitive expedition in 1897. It was …
Read More »Nigeria: Islamic school students beaten for drinking alcohol
The head of an Islamic school has been suspended by the government in Nigeria’s north-central Kwara state after a video emerged showing a group of students being repeatedly lashed. The students, who included some males and a female, were accused of drinking alcohol at a birthday party of one of …
Read More »Nigeria police rescue dozens from ‘torture house’
Police in Nigeria say they have rescued 47 people from what they describe as a “torture house” in the northern state of Kano. The property, in Kano city, was supposed to be a rehabilitation centre. In other words, a privately run facility where parents send their children who they believe …
Read More »Nigeria: army arrest actor Chiwetalu Agu over Ipob outfit
Army in Nigeria has confirmed the arrest of the famous actor Chiwetalu Agu for wearing an outfit bearing the flag of the proscribed group Ipob and inciting people to join it. The Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob) is a group that wants a breakaway state in south-east Nigeria. The army …
Read More »Nigeria: nearly 200 villagers rescued from kidnappers by the police
At least 187 villagers who were abducted from their homes by criminal gangs have been rescued by police in northwest Nigeria. The victims, who had spent several weeks in captivity, were freed by security forces following an operation in Tsibiri forest in Zamfara state, police spokesman Mohammed Shehu said. The …
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