Nigeria - Page 2

Nigeria is the most dangerous place in the world to be a Christian, according to a report on Christian persecution by International Christian Concern (ICC).

A mob of Fulani Muslim raiders torched a Catholic parish rectory in Nigeria’s Middle Belt, killing a 25-year-old seminarian, local media reported.

Former OPEC president Diezani Alison-Madueke has been charged with bribery offences, the UK National Crime Agency said on Tuesday.

General Abdourahamane Tchiani, the leader of the Niger military coup, announced that he would not remain in power for over three years.

Terrorists reportedly identified as “Fulani militia” stormed two villages in central Plateau state overnight Thursday, killing 21 people and making a mockery of government checkpoints set up after police received tips that local “bandits” were organizing an attack.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a coalition led by Nigeria, agreed during an emergency meeting on Thursday to order its military leaders to “activate” its armed forces “immediately” to prepare for an invasion of Niger.

The leaders of the “National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland,” a group of soldiers who staged a coup in Niger on July 26, failed to allow diplomats representing the United Nations and African Union from entering the country on Tuesday, claiming public “anger” made it unsafe for them to land.

The military junta in control of Niger since July 26 announced on Sunday that, in response to a threat of invasion by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), it would shut down the country’s airspace and issue an “energetic and instant response” to any unauthorized flights over its territory.

President Mohamed Bazoum of Niger, deposed by a military coup d’etat last week and believed to be trapped in his presidential residence, declared himself a “hostage” and in a Washington Post column published on Thursday asked for American intervention on his behalf.

The U.S. Department of Defense confirmed on Tuesday that American troops remain in Niger and have no imminent plan to leave, though they remain in “clearly a not-normal situation” following the head of the presidential guard staging an attempted coup d’etat against President Mohamed Bazoum.

The governments of Burkina Faso and Mali issued statements on Monday defending the military coup in Niger last week, stating that any military intervention by democratic neighbors to oust the coup leaders in Niger would be a “declaration of war” against them, as well.

The regional Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), following an emergency meeting on Sunday, announced that it would consider “force” to oust the leaders of a coup d’etat in Niger last week, rejecting their authority and declaring “zero tolerance for unconstitutional change of government.”

Strengthening the American relationship with Nigeria, a longtime ally increasingly close to communist China, “shouldn’t be at the expense of Christian lives,” a priest serving the heart of Christian Nigeria told Breitbart News in an interview last week.

Foreign Fulani jihadists are exterminating the indigenous Christians of central Nigeria, Father Remigius Ihyula told Breitbart News.

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu on Thursday declared a “state of emergency on food security” due to swiftly rising prices. Nigeria is the largest economy on the African continent, although it’s per capita income is about half of the number two economy, Egypt.

A fleet of Chinese warships made port in Nigeria on Sunday for a five-day visit, a rare show of Chinese naval strength in West Africa hailed by China’s ambassador as a “major event in the relations” between the two countries, and between China and Africa at large.

The Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) noted in its annual report Thursday that Christian persecution has been “sharply on the rise” and “its terrible impacts have only begun to be felt.”

Islamic extremists slaughtered dozens of Christian schoolchildren at a boarding school in Uganda on Friday, including 20 girls who were hacked to death with machetes, the Barnabas Fund reported.

According to the Nigerian legislature, departing President Muhammadu Buhari created a fake airline as his final act in office. Buhari even managed to arrange the flight of a lone aircraft bearing the livery of the nonexistent Nigeria Air before taking his final bow.

Saudi Arabia announced a million-barrel-per-day (bpd) oil production cut on Sunday that would begin in July, a policy change following a meeting of the OPEC+ oil cartel in which several members failed to meet their production quotas and one, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), announced a production increase.

Nigeria police said on Monday they are investigating no less than 15 murders over the past week in a rural farming community that was attacked by nomadic herdsmen.

Non-American members working for the United States Embassy in Nigeria have reportedly been shot dead in a region of intense unrest.

A Nigerian chef is getting tons of attention and praise for a cooking marathon in which she tried to set a world record.

Cambridge University has reportedly delayed plans to give back artefacts “stolen” from Africa after treasures returned by Germany vanished.

“Stolen” African artefacts returned by the progressive West to the Nigerian government have now disappeared, experts say.

The Nigerian Army announced on Thursday that its forces have rescued two of the girls kidnapped from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok by Boko Haram in 2014.

A UK court jailed Nigeria’s former deputy Senate president for nine years and eight months for plotting to harvest a man’s kidney.

The government of China denied on Tuesday details in a report accusing its companies of bribing Nigerian terrorists in exchange for safe access to mineral-rich territories in the African country.

Nigerian presidential candidate Peter Obi was detained at Heathrow Airport in London on Good Friday and interrogated for hours, apparently because someone had been impersonating him in London.

The Premium Times of Nigeria on Tuesday published an update from the Nigerian government on its war against oil poachers. According to the Eastern Command of the Nigerian Navy, 27 smuggling vessels were captured over the past year, and 294 illegal refineries were located and shut down.

April 14 marks the ninth anniversary of the tragic abduction of nearly 300 school girls by the Nigerian Islamic terror group Boko Haram, and dozens of girls are still missing to this day. 

Last weekend saw a rash of mass casualty attacks in Africa, with atrocities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Burkina Faso, and Nigeria claimed by the Islamic State (ISIS) and other terrorist groups.

The Premium Times of Nigeria reported on Monday that a panel investigating human rights violations in the insurgent-plagued northeast has heard testimony from 50 witnesses on abuses perpetrated by the Nigerian military, including mass abortions and the murder of children.

The former Vice-President of Nigeria’s Senate has been convicted in a UK court of plotting to harvest a migrant’s organs.

The implosion of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) is sending shockwaves around the world, reaching all the way to Africa, where fragile tech startups are worried that more banks will fail, destroying their supply of much-needed venture capital.

Nigerian presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) led a march on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Monday to announce that he believes he is the true winner of the February 25 election. Third-party candidate Peter Obi likewise claimed that he was the true winner last week.