MUHAMMADU BUHARI

Leaders of Commonwealth nations are meeting in Rwanda’s capital to tackle climate change, tropical diseases and other challenges deepened by the COVID-19 pandemic.

A former governor of Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, has been nominated to be the ruling party’s presidential candidate in next year’s presidential election

A former governor of Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, has been nominated to be the ruling party’s presidential candidate in next year’s presidential election.

Dozens of people were feared killed and scores injured in the attack in southwestern Ondo State, where religious violence is rare. Most violence in Nigeria has taken place in the northeast, where Boko Haram has waged an Islamist insurgency for more than a decade, regularly attacking churches and kidnapping schoolchildren. Security was visibly tighter across Ondo State on Monday, witnesses told The Washington Post. While he doubted Boko Haram was responsible, he said it was worrying that other groups may be trying to use the same tactics to terrorize the country’s Christian community. “In saying this is not Boko Haram, we can’t say this does not have a religious connotation.”Wroughton reported from Cape Town, South Africa.

Lawmakers in southwestern Nigeria say more than 50 people are feared dead after gunmen opened fire and detonated explosives at a church.

Lawmakers in southwestern Nigeria say more than 50 people are feared dead after gunmen opened fire and detonated explosives at a church.

ABUJA, Nigeria — (AP) — Gunmen have kidnapped the prelate of the Methodist Church Nigeria, police said Monday, in an incident that once again mirrors the troubling security challenges in the West African nation. His Eminence Samuel Kanu Uche was kidnapped Sunday along a highway in the Umunneochi area in Nigeria's southeastern Abia state, police spokesperson Geoffrey Ogbonna told The Associated Press. Nigeria’s southeast has in recent years grappled with violent attacks and abductions often blamed on unknown gunmen. Authorities have accused members of the Indigenous People of Biafra, a leading separatist group, of being behind many of the attacks. Other political and religious leaders have also called for the release of the prelate and many others in captivity in Nigeria, where abductions for ransoms have been a worrying trend.

The head of the Methodist Church Nigeria has been abducted in southeast Nigeria, a region which has grappled with violent attacks and abductions in recent years, the police told The AP on Monday

Nigeria’s financial crimes agency has arrested the country’s accountant-general, accusing him of diverting government funds worth $192.4 million

Aid agencies are warning that acute malnutrition is on the rise in northeast Nigeria.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has lauded Nigerian authorities' efforts to reintegrate repentant Boko Haram militants, saying the initiative is “the best thing we can do for peace.”.

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — (AP) — Dozens of passengers kidnapped five weeks ago from a train near Nigeria's capital are being used as human shields by their abductors, President Muhammadu Buhari said. The kidnappers “are using civilians as human shields, thereby making it difficult to confront them directly,” Buhari said in Abuja, the nation’s capital, on Monday. “They don’t care about killing their hostages if they come under attack.”The Nigerian president described the situation as a “delicate” one that requires wisdom and patience. Those armed groups are now working with the jihadi extremists who have been waging a 10-year insurgency in the country's northeast, according to the Nigerian military. More than 4,000 people were killed in Nigeria's armed violence last year, according to data from the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations which collates incidents reported by Nigeria’s media.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari says dozens of people abducted from a passenger train near the nation’s capital in March are being used as “human shields” by their captors

The U.N. says Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will head to West Africa on Saturday to join Muslims marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan and to highlight the impact of the Ukraine war on the African continent

Nigeria’s Senate has passed a bill amending the country’s Terrorism Prevention Act to bar the ransom payments. When the bill passed on Wednesday becomes a law, it can “turn around not only the security situation in Nigeria but even the economic fortunes of our country,” said Nigeria Senate President Ahmad Lawan. However, activists say the proposed law does not address “the root cause” of Nigeria’s security problems and endangers the lives of those kidnapped. The bill also creates “more opportunities for further violations of people’s rights,” Osai Ojigho, Nigeria director of Amnesty International told AP. She identified the “lack of resources” for security forces to investigate and prosecute crimes as a big challenge in Nigeria’s quest for peace.

Nigerian lawmakers have passed legislation to bar the payment of kidnap ransoms at a time when the West African nation is struggling to stem the rise of armed violence and kidnaps for ransom in its troubled northwest and central regions

Nigerian lawmakers have passed legislation to bar the payment of kidnap ransoms at a time when the West African nation is struggling to stem the rise of armed violence and kidnaps for ransom in its troubled northwest and central regions.

Remains of more than 100 workers and traders who died after an illegal refinery exploded in southeast Nigeria were buried on Tuesday in an official ceremony after an incident that shocked the region

Nigeria Oil Explosion People gather Saturday April 23, 2022 at the site of an explosion that took place the day before at an illegal oil refinery in Ohaji-Egbema local government area in Imo state, southeast Nigeria. Although Nigeria is Africa’s largest producer of crude oil, for many years its oil production capacity has been limited by a chronic challenge of oil storage and the operation of illegal refineries. As many as 30 illegal oil refineries were busted in the Niger Delta region in just two weeks, Nigeria’s Defense Department said earlier this month when it announced a task force to curb crude oil theft. The problem of illegal refineries “has never been this bad” and remains “difficult to end,” said Opiah, the Imo petroleum commissioner. I am sure more illegal refineries will be cropping up in other places.”Copyright 2022 The Associated Press.

A Nigerian oil official says as many as 100 people may have died in an explosion at an illegal oil refinery in southeastern Nigeria.

Nigerian police and witnesses say an attack by suspected Islamic extremist rebels has killed nine people in northeast Nigeria, one of several deadly attacks this week in the troubled region

Residents were mowed down as they tried to flee motorcycle-riding criminal gangs that laid waste to villages in the northern Plateau state.

Survivors and local authorities say an armed gang has killed more than 100 people in a remote part of northern Nigeria

ABUJA, Nigeria — (AP) — An armed gang has killed more than 100 people in a remote part of northern Nigeria, survivors and local authorities said on Tuesday. The attackers targeted four villages in the Kanam area of Plateau State, the most recent in a series of violent attacks in Nigeria's north. The State Security Council has adopted “far-reaching measures to strengthen all security measures,” Lalong said, but similar commitments made in the past have not succeeded in improving security in the area, say residents. A decade-long insurgency in Nigeria's northeast by the Islamic extremist rebels of Boko Haram and violence by armed groups in the northwest have led to the deaths of thousands more. Nigerian security forces are often outnumbered and outgunned by the armed groups in those volatile areas, say security analysts, creating a serious challenge to Nigeria's quest for peace and stability.

Nigeria’s Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says that he will run for president in next year’s election

Nigeria’s former Vice President Atiku Abubakar announced he will run for president in the 2023 election, promising to “rescue” Africa’s most populous country which he said has been “left behind” by the continent and the world

A prolonged fuel shortage in Nigeria, Africa’s top crude oil producer, has provoked growing frustration and many citizens are demanding government action

A prolonged fuel shortage in Nigeria, Africa’s top crude oil producer, has provoked growing frustration and many citizens are demanding government action.

ABUJA, Nigeria — (AP) — The Nigerian government has lifted its ban on Twitter, seven months after the West African country’s more than 200 million people were shut out of the social media network. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari directed that Twitter’s operations can resume on Thursday, according to the director-general of the country’s National Information Technology Development Agency. Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi said that was only after Twitter agreed to meet some conditions, including opening an office in Nigeria. A spokesperson for Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Authorities have also set the ball rolling on regulating other social networks in the West African country.

ABUJA, Nigeria — (AP) — The Nigerian government has lifted its ban on Twitter in the West African country, seven months after the country’s more than 200 million people were shut out of the social media network. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari directed that Twitter’s operations will resume in the country on Thursday, according to the director-general of the country’s National Information Technology Development Agency. Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi said that was only after Twitter agreed to meet some conditions, including opening an office in Nigeria. Our engagement has been very respectful, cordial, and successful,” Abdullahi said in a statement. A spokesperson for Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

LAGOS, Nigeria — (AP) — At least 23 travelers have been killed in northwest Nigeria in an attack by the same armed groups blamed for killing thousands this year in Africa’s most populous country. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said he is “very distressed” over the attack that occurred Monday though details of the incident emerged only on Wednesday. It is the latest in a cycle of violence targeting rural communities and travelers along highways in the northwest and central parts of the West African nation. Sokoto state governor Aminu Tambuwal said that the gunmen opened fire at a bus conveying the travelers along a route notorious for such attacks in the Isa area of the state. Buhari — who was elected in 2015 after promising to crush Islamist extremists in the northeast — has seen the armed violence in other parts of northern Nigeria grow rapidly under his watch.

The Biden administration’s competition with China for influence hasn't gotten off to a great start in Africa.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Africa next week as the Biden administration intensifies diplomatic efforts to resolve crises in Ethiopia and Sudan and seeks to boost counterterrorism cooperation.

The abductions in Abuja come as the nation faces a kidnapping wave.

Climate COP26 Summit British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, right, greets Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari at the COP26 U.N. Climate Summit in Glasgow, Scotland, Monday, Nov. 1, 2021. The U.N. climate summit in Glasgow gathers leaders from around the world, in Scotland's biggest city, to lay out their vision for addressing the common challenge of global warming. GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — It's time for more than 130 world leaders to feel the heat. That leaves India’s Modi the only leader present from the so-called BRICS nations, which account for more than 40% of global emissions.

Wole Soyinka, Nigeria’s Nobel-winning author, sees his country’s many problems — misgoverning politicians, systemic corruption, violent extremists, and kidnapping bandits — yet he does not despair.

LAGOS, Nigeria — (AP) — Nigeria has launched a digital currency which the Central Bank of Nigeria says is a "major step forward in the evolution of money” in Africa’s most populous country. President Muhammadu Buhari said at the launch Monday that the digital currency and the blockchain technology it uses can foster economic growth and increase the GDP of Nigeria's economy, one of Africa’s biggest, by $29 billion over the next 10 years. The eNaira — whose motto is "Same naira, more possibilities” — is an equivalent of Nigeria's paper naira currency and is regulated as an official tender by Nigeria's Central Bank. The central bank also hopes the digital currency will encourage financial inclusion in the country of more than 200 million people. Authorities are optimistic the eNaira will also drive digital transactions which have seen rapid growth in Nigeria over the years.

Joshua Samuel painfully recalls the day, one year ago, that Nigerian soldiers opened fire in Lagos while he and thousands of others were protesting police brutality.

LAGOS, Nigeria — (AP) — Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari says he has directed the lifting of the ban on Twitter’s operations in Nigeria but only if certain conditions are met including Twitter’s “positive” use and registration in the West African nation. The action to suspend Twitter's operation in Nigeria shows Buhari’s government “prefers authoritarianism to democracy,” according to Idayat Hassan of the West Africa-focused Centre for Democracy and Development. As the telecommunications access blockade continues so it has had an economic cost for Africa’s most populous country, with more than 64 million young people. In addition to registering and paying tax in Nigeria, Buhari said some of the other conditions upon which telecommunications companies will once again grant access to Twitter in Nigeria are “national security” and local content on the social network. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Nuclear disarmament might seem like a must-discuss topic in world leaders' annual speeches at the U.N. General Assembly, which has espoused that cause since its founding.

LAGOS, Nigeria — (AP) — Gunmen in Nigeria on Sunday freed 10 students abducted in the northwest Kaduna state after collecting a ransom, a school official told The Associated Press. John Hayab said the students were released on Sunday afternoon, nearly three months after they were seized by the gunmen in Kaduna. Eleven of the 121 students of the Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna are still being held, Hayab said, expressing frustration at the refusal of the gunmen to release all the students at once. “If we have the power, we would have brought them,” he told AP when asked why the gunmen held back 11 students. Security analysts have told the AP the gunmen and the extremists might be working together.

Nigerian police say gunmen have abducted nine students on their way home from an Islamic school in the country’s northwest, two days after a mass school abduction took place in a neighboring state.

LAGOS, Nigeria — (AP) — Nigeria plans to soon lift its ban on Twitter, the country's information minister said Wednesday, two months after authorities blocked the social network when a tweet by the president was deleted. Information Minister Lai Mohammed told journalists that an “amicable resolution is very much in sight,” but did not specify how soon the ban could be lifted in Africa's most populous nation. Sarah Hart, a Twitter spokesperson, said the company had recently met with the Nigerian government to discuss the ban. “Our aim is to chart a path forward to the restoration of Twitter for everyone in Nigeria,” Hart said in an emailed statement. The decision drew widespread criticism from Nigerians, many of whom pointed out how the government announced the ban on its Twitter page.

GettyABUJA, Nigeria— Dozens of employees working in the State House, where the offices of Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo are located, were gathered in a room and forced to take an Oath of Secrecy earlier this week because the president’s top aides were “embarrassed” by The Daily Beast report revealing the reasons behind his demand for a nationwide Twitter ban, according to two officials.The government was open about the mass-oath-taking, billing it as a sta

The shooting down of a military jet shows how organised crime is becoming more daring by the day.

KANO, Nigeria — (AP) — Armed kidnappers in Nigeria have released 28 of the more than 120 students who were abducted at the beginning of July from the Bethel Baptist High School in the northern town of Damishi. Church officials handed those children over to their parents at the school on Sunday. Israel Akanji, president of the Baptist Convention, said more than 80 other children are still being held by the gunmen. So far 34 children kidnapped from the school on July 5 have either been released or have escaped from the custody of the gunmen. Gunman called bandits have carried out a spate of mass abductions from schools in northern Nigeria this year, mainly seeking ransoms.

Armed kidnappers in Nigeria have released 28 of the more than 120 students who were abducted at the beginning of July from the Bethel Baptist High School in the northern town of Damishi.

Armed kidnappers in Nigeria have released 28 of the more than 120 students who were abducted at the beginning of July from the Bethel Baptist High School in the northern town of Damishi. The gunmen have reportedly demanded 500,000 Naira (about $1,200) for each student. Two other students escaped on July 20 when they were ordered to fetch firewood from a nearby forest.

The pilot survived by ejecting himself and hiding with local residents, says Nigeria's Air Force.

Almost every part of Nigeria is facing a security crisis - from kidnapping to extremist insurgencies.

Igbo separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu was largely ignored until his movement became an armed struggle.

Authorities say a Nigerian leading the movement for the secession of southeast Nigeria from the rest of the country has been arrested.

He fled in 2017 while on bail facing treason charges and was detained with the help of Interpol.

The social media platform is banned but Jack Dorsey remains a hugely popular figure in the country.

Speaking at the funeral of Sen. John Warner, President Biden called the five-term senator, who died at the age of 94, "a man of conscience, character and honor." Biden praised Warner for working across the political aisle "to see each other as fellow Americans, even when we disagree. From John's perspective, especially when we disagree."

Supporters see him a returning liberation hero, who revived a long-lost dream of African nationhood from his flat in faraway south London. Critics see him as a dangerous insurgent who belongs behind bars. Like him or loathe him, though few would disagree that Nnamdi Kanu has come a long way since his days running Radio Free Biafra from a council flat in Peckham. The 52-year-old, who leads the campaign to revive the former breakaway state of Biafra, was the catalyst for President Muhammadu Buhari

Nigeria suspended Twitter operations, days after the social media giant took down a post by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Many people are circumventing the ban, despite government threats to arrest and prosecute tweeters.

Trump praises Nigeria for banning Twitter

Users are trying to skirt the government's block on the social network, which began on Friday.

(Photo by Ludovic Marin, Pool via AP) (Ludovic Marin)LAGOS, Nigeria — (AP) — Millions of Nigerians were unable to access Twitter Saturday after the government enforced an indefinite suspension of the microblogging platform’s operations in Nigeria. Twitter had deleted Buhari’s post on Wednesday after the president threatened suspected militants in the southeast, calling it abusive. Banning social media and curbing every citizen’s ability to seek, receive, and impart information undermines fundamental freedoms,” it said in a statement. Many them young people have been finding a way around the ban by turning to virtual private networks (VPN) apps to access the social media platform. Many Nigerians fear President Buhari is planning another aggressive attack on free speech as he did in 1984 when he was head of a military government.

Millions of Nigerians were unable to access Twitter after the government enforced an indefinite suspension of the microblogging platform’s operations in Nigeria.

Millions of Nigerians were unable to access Twitter Saturday after the government enforced an indefinite suspension of the microblogging platform’s operations in Nigeria. The Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria said in a statement that its members have suspended access to Twitter in compliance with a government directive to do so. The Nigeria government said Friday it was indefinitely suspending Twitter in Africa’s most populous nation, after the company deleted a controversial tweet President Muhammadu Buhari made about a secessionist movement.

Nigeria's government says it's suspending Twitter indefinitely after the platform deleted a tweet made by President Muhammadu Buhari and called it abusive.

Twitter's Public Policy team said Saturday they are "deeply concerned" by the suspension.

Twitter deleted Muhammadu Buhari's post on Wednesday, calling it abusive, after the president threatened suspected separatist militants in the southeast.

LAGOS, Nigeria — (AP) — Nigeria’s government said Friday it was suspending Twitter indefinitely in Africa’s most populous nation, a day after the company deleted a controversial tweet President Muhammadu Buhari made about a secessionist movement. Others mocked the government for using the platform to announce the action. “You’re using Twitter to suspend Twitter? “The mission of Twitter in Nigeria is very suspicious,” he said, adding that Twitter had in the past ignored “inciting” tweets against the Nigerian government. Twitter deleted Buhari's post on Wednesday, calling it abusive, after the president threatened suspected separatist militants in the southeast.

Nigeria’s government said Friday it was suspending Twitter indefinitely in Africa’s most populous nation, a day after the company deleted a controversial tweet President Muhammadu Buhari made about a secessionist movement. It was not immediately clear when the suspension would go into effect as users could still access Twitter late Friday, and many said they would simply use VPNs to maintain access to the platform. Information Minister Lai Mohammed said Friday that government officials took the step because the platform was being used “for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.”

West African leaders have suspended Mali from their regional bloc over what they say amounted to a coup last week.

President Joe Biden has wrapped up his two-day climate summit, saying the climate crisis has created an opportunity to remake the global economy and produce millions of jobs in clean energy and technology.

Families in Nigeria waited anxiously on Sunday for news of their abducted daughters, the latest in a series of mass kidnappings of school students in the West African nation. (AP Photo/Ibrahim Mansur)JANGEBE – Families in Nigeria waited anxiously for news of their abducted daughters after more than 300 schoolgirls were kidnapped by gunmen from a government school in the country's north last week, the latest in a series of mass school kidnappings in the West African nation. Police and the military have begun joint operations to rescue the girls, said Mohammed Shehu, a police spokesman in Zamfara state. In December, more than 300 schoolboys from a secondary school in Kankara, in northwestern Nigeria, were taken and later released. The government says large groups of armed men in Zamfara state are known to kidnap for money and to press for the release of their members held in jail.

(AP Photo)LAGOS – Students, teachers and relatives abducted two weeks ago from a school in northern Nigeria have been freed. The students, teachers and family members were abducted Feb. 17 by gunmen from the Government Science College Kagara. Their release was announced a day after police said gunmen had abducted 317 girls from a boarding school elsewhere in northern Nigeria, in Zamfara state. “We will not succumb to blackmail by bandits and criminals who target innocent school students in the expectation of huge ransom payments,” he said. In December, 344 students were abducted from the Government Science Secondary School Kankara in Katsina State.

One of the students who was not kidnapped from a Government Girls Junior Secondary School following an attack by gunmen in Jangebe, Nigeria, Friday, Feb. 26, 2021. Gunmen abducted 317 girls from a boarding school in northern Nigeria on Friday, police said, the latest in a series of mass kidnappings of students in the West African nation. “We will not succumb to blackmail by bandits and criminals who target innocent school students in the expectation of huge ransom payments,” he said. AdFriday’s attack came less than two weeks after gunmen abducted 42 people, including 27 students, from the Government Science College Kagara in Niger State. In December, 344 students were abducted from the Government Science Secondary School Kankara in Katsina State.

It takes about 12 weeks to install a hospital oxygen plant and even less time to convert industrial oxygen manufacturing systems into a medical-grade network. AdIn Brazil’s Amazonas state, a pair of swindlers were caught reselling fire extinguishers painted to look like medical oxygen tanks. Only then did President Muhammadu Buhari release $17 million to set up 38 more oxygen plants and another $670,000 to repair plants at five hospitals. AdLeith Greenslade of the Every Breath Counts Coalition, which advocates for wider access to medical oxygen, said the looming shortages were apparent last spring. The main provider of medical oxygen to Brazil’s Amazonas state, White Martins, operated at half capacity before the pandemic.

Usman Garuba, one of the freed boys, described the horror of their six days walking through the forest and being beaten. Boko Haram, Nigeria's jihadist rebels, claimed responsibility for the kidnappings, but the government later said the abduction was carried out by bandit groups rampant in the northwest. Nigeria’s military and police forces, with the backing of local self-defense groups, are outgunned, outnumbered, underfunded and underpaid, he said. More than 800 security forces were killed in 2019, one of the deadliest years since Boko Haram’s establishment more than 10 years ago. It is really disturbing.”___AP journalists Lekan Oyekanmi in Katsina, Nigeria, and Sam Olukoya in Lagos, Nigeria, contributed.

Usman Mohammad Rabiu, a 13 year old student of Government Science Secondary School Kankara, his mother Asmau Hassan, and his siblings at their family house in Ketare, Nigeria, speaks to the Associated Press, Saturday Dec. 19, 2020. Nigeria's freed schoolboys have reunited with their joyful parents after being held captive for nearly a week by gunmen allied with jihadist rebels in the country's northwest. Relieved parents hugged their sons tightly on Saturday in Kankara, where more than 340 boys were abducted from the Government Science Secondary school on the night of Dec. 11. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)KANKARA – Nigeria's freed schoolboys have reunited with their joyful parents after being held captive for nearly a week by gunmen allied with jihadist rebels in the country’s northwest. “Fear gripped me when they said if they ever see us in school again, that they will kill us,” said freed Kankara student, Usman Mohammad Rabiu.

The school boy who escaped says the students were kidnapped by young, armed men in military uniform. The attack, claimed by Boko Haram, Nigeria's jihadist rebels, has prompted an outcry in the West African nation against the government for not doing enough to stop attacks on schools in the north. Boko Haram kidnapped the schoolboys because it believes Western education is un-Islamic, the rebels’ leader Abubakar Shekau said in a video claiming responsibility for the attack, according to SITE Intelligence Group. For more than 10 years, Boko Haram has engaged in a bloody campaign to introduce strict Islamic rule in Nigeria's north. In April 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped more than 270 schoolgirls from a government boarding school in Chibok in northeastern Borno State.

Anxiety has overwhelmed many parents in Nigeria’s northern Kankara village who await word on their sons who are among the more than 330 kidnapped by extremists from a government boys’ school last week. Nigeria’s Boko Haram jihadist rebels have claimed responsibility for the abduction of the students from the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara. Across Nigeria, people are closely following the fate of the kidnapped boys and many criticize the government for the continuing extremist violence. For more than 10 years, Boko Haram has engaged in a bloody campaign to introduce strict Islamic rule. In February 2014, 59 boys were killed when Boko Haram attacked the Federal Government College, Buni Yadi in Yobe State.

People gather inside the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Nigeria, Saturday Dec. 12, 2020. Nigerian police say that hundreds of students are missing after gunmen attacked the secondary school in the countrys northwestern Katsina state. (AP Photo/Abdullatif Yusuf)LAGOS – Anxiety is growing among the parents of hundreds of students who remain missing three days after gunmen attacked their school in Katsina State in northern Nigeria. More than 300 students are missing after the attack on the Government Science Secondary School, a boys' school in Kankara, on Friday night, Katsina governor Aminu Masari said. The most serious school attack took place in April 2014, when more than 270 schoolgirls were abducted from their dormitory at the Government Secondary School in Chibok in northeastern Borno State.

People attend a funeral for those killed by suspected Boko Haram militants in Zaabarmar, Nigeria, Sunday, Nov. 29, 2020. Nigerian officials say suspected members of the Islamic militant group Boko Haram have killed at least 40 rice farmers and fishermen while they were harvesting crops in northern Borno State. (AP Photo/Jossy Ola)MAIDGURI – Suspected members of the Islamic militant group Boko Haram killed at least 40 rice farmers and fishermen in Nigeria as they were harvesting crops in the country's northern state of Borno, officials said. “I condemn the killing of our hardworking farmers by terrorists in Borno State. Boko Haram and a breakaway faction, the Islamic State West Africa Province, are both active in the region.

Nigeria's army has on Tuesday, Oct. 27 admitted its soldiers were deployed at the Lekki Toll Plaza in Lagos where live rounds were fired last week, killing several peaceful protesters prompting global outrage. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba, file)LAGOS – Nigeria's army has admitted its soldiers were deployed at the Lekki Toll Plaza in Lagos where live rounds were fired last week, killing several peaceful protesters prompting global outrage. Many Nigerians question why the soldiers were deployed at the peaceful protest, in which thousands had gathered at the Lekki plaza. “Nigerian authorities still have many questions to answer: Who ordered the use of lethal force on peaceful protesters? On Oct. 20 the government imposed a curfew, ordering everyone to stay at home and that evening the shootings occurred at Lekki plaza.

Nigeria's president says 51 civilians have been killed in unrest following days of peaceful protests over police abuses, and he blames "hooliganism" for the violence while asserting that security forces have used "extreme restraint. The police order could further heighten tensions in Africa’s most populous country after its worst turmoil in years. Adamu, ordered colleagues to “dominate the public space” while announcing that enough is enough, a statement said. By not taking action against security forces, some Nigerians have warned, the president could inspire further abuses. We are part of the system, we are part of this governance.”___Bashir Adigun in Abuja, Nigeria contributed.

Police officers stop and search a bus carrying passengers around Lekki toll gate in Lagos Friday, Oct. 23, 2020. Soldiers remained in parts of Lagos, Nigeria's largest city, as a 24-hour curfew remained in place. If the protests have been hijacked, then Nigerian youth should not give up the struggle and instead should “go back and re-strategize,” said Seriki Muritala with the National Youth Parliament. Opulence and grinding poverty are in close contact in Lagos, a city of some 20 million, and the inequality sharpens Nigerians' grievances. After questioning by police, the mourners were allowed to continue, to go on and bury the dead.

“For you to do otherwise will amount to undermining national security and law and order," he said. “President Buhari during his speech refused to acknowledge those dead as a result of military attacked on Lekki protesters #EndSARS,” tweeted Usman Okai Austin. As looting gangs stormed through parts of Nigeria's largest city, spreading violence for a second day in Lagos. But on Tuesday night security forces fired without warning into crowds of thousands of protesters singing Nigeria's national anthem, killing 12, Amnesty said. "We welcome an immediate investigation into any use of excessive force by members of the security forces.

( AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)LAGOS – Amnesty International said in a report Wednesday that Nigeria's security forces fired upon two large gatherings of peaceful protesters Tuesday night, killing 12 people calling for an end to police brutality. The security forces opened fire without warning on the protesters Tuesday night at the Lekki toll plaza, Amnesty said in its report, citing eyewitnesses, video footage and hospital reports. “Opening fire on peaceful protesters is a blatant violation of people’s rights to life, dignity, freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. Some of those killed and injured at the toll plaza and in Alausa, another Lagos neighborhood, were taken away by the military, Amnesty alleged in the report. Amnesty's report backs up posts and images on social media that have shown widespread violence against protesters.

(UNTV via AP)TANZANIA – The Latest from the U.N. General Assembly (all times EDT):8:15 p.m. ___6:55 p.m.Argentine President Alberto Fernández is asking the world to think beyond creating a vaccine that will help end the coronavirus pandemic. Speaking Tuesday to the annual U.N. General Assembly, French President Emmanuel Macron decried the United Nations’ failure to vanquish the virus. ___11:50 a.m.South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is the first world leader at the United Nations'' annual gathering to mention the Black Lives Matter movement. Trump is accusing China of not sharing timely information with the world on the new disease in a taped address to the virtually gathered United Nations General Assembly.

West African leaders on Friday urged Mali's junta to take no more than one year to hand over power to a civilian government, as regional heads of state held another virtual summit after initial negotiations with the military coup leaders failed. (AP Photo/Baba Ahmed)BAMAKO West African leaders on Friday urged Mali's junta to take no more than one year to hand over power to a civilian government, as regional heads of state held another virtual summit after initial negotiations with the military coup leaders failed. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, who participated in the summit, urged the junta to heed the bloc's calls. Neighboring countries have shut their borders and other sanctions have been threatened in a bid to force the junta leaders to capitulate. Nigeria's president said Mali's ruling junta must immediately release all other senior government officials still being detained.

(AP Photo)BAMAKO Former Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita returned home Thursday after being detained for 10 days by the ruling military junta that staged a coup last week, a family member said. It could be a signal that Malis ruling junta, which wants ECOWAS to lift sanctions, are trying to meet some of the bloc's demands. The ECOWAS negotiating team met with Keita during their visit to Malis capital last week. Malis junta has proposed staying in power for three years until Malis next election until 2023. On Thursday, Mali's military said four soldiers were killed and 12 others wounded in an ambush on an anti-poaching unit by insurgents in central Mali.