NIGERIA 2/4/2010
TRIBUNALI AL LAVORO DOPO VIOLENZE DI JOS
NIGERIA 6/4/2010
IN CARICA IL NUOVO GOVERNO
NIGERIA 7/4/2010
DELTA DEL NIGER: L’INDUSTRIA PETROLIFERA DIVENTA ‘LOCALE’
NIGERIA 7/4/2010
DELTA DEL NIGER (2): DOPO GOVERNO CAMBIA SOCIETÀ PETROLIFERA
NIGERIA 8/4/2010
MUSICA E BALLI TRADIZIONALI AL PRIMO CARNEVALE DI LAGOS
Nigeria: Rapiti due tedeschi
(19 Aprile 2010 - AGR)
Nigeria: l'esercito uccide due persone che attaccavano villaggio di cristiani a Jos. Strage evitata
19/4/2010, Il Sole 24 Ore
NIGERIA 23/4/2010
NUOVA LEGGE PER PARTECIPAZIONE LOCALE NEL SETTORE PETROLIFERO
Due giornalisti cristiani uccisi a Jos in Nigeria
Il Sole 24 Ore, 27/4/2010
NIGERIA 28/4/2010
ACCUSE DI FRODE ED ELEZIONI, CONFRONTO IN PARTITO DI GOVERNO
Nigeria, senatore sposa una ragazzina di 13 anni. Proteste ad Abuja
BlitzQuotidiano, 29/4/2010
NIGERIA 29/4/2010
DESTITUITO IL PRESIDENTE DELLA COMMISSIONE ELETTORALE
Nigeria mulls return for Ribadu
BBC, 1/4/2010
Nigeria clerics meet ill leader
BBC, 2/4/2010
Nigeria inaugurates new cabinet
BBC, 6/4/2010
US wants new Nigerian poll head
BBC, 6/4/2010
Nigeria doctors in kidnap strike
BBC, 8/4/2010
Nigeria ex-leader eyes presidency
BBC, 12/4/2010
Nigeria bill 'to stop extremism'
BBC, 13/4/2010
Babangida 'will not buy top job'
BBC, 13/4/2010
Goodluck 'not spoken to Yar'Adua'
BBC, 14/4/2010
Nigeria police lose in sect case
BCC, 14/4/2010
Toxic Waste Ship Berths
This Day, 15/4/2010
‘Toxic Container’... Back to Sender
THIS DAY, 19/4/2010
Two Germans abducted in Nigeria
BBC, 18/4/2010
Two killed in Nigeria jail-break
BBC, 20/4/2010
Toxic Waste: Minister Reads Riot Act to Criminals
THIS DAY, 21/4/2010
Nigeria attack halts Ibori arrest
BBC, 21/4/2010
Reprisal killings in Jos, Nigeria
BBC, 21/4/2010
Germans held in Nigeria are freed
BBC, 24/4/2010
'Why I burnt my Nigerian friend's house down'
BBC, 26/4/2010
Nigeria party leader is charged
BBC, 26/4/2010
Nigeria protests over child bride
BBC, 28/4/2010
Nigeria fires elections chief
AlJazeera English, 29/4/2010
Nigerians hail poll chief sacking
BBC, 29/4/2010
Nigerian denies child bride claim
BBC, 29/4/2010
Is Jonathan serious about Nigeria electoral reform?
BBC, 30/4/2010
NIGERIA 2/4/2010
TRIBUNALI AL LAVORO DOPO VIOLENZE DI JOS
C’è anche il “terrorismo” fra i capi d’accusa notificati dalla giustizia federale a 20 sospettati in carcere per le violenze perpetrate il mese scorso nell’area di Jos, nello stato centrale di Plateau. Continua così la procedura giudiziaria avviata con l’arresto, nelle ultime settimane, di oltre 160 sospettati i cui casi devono essere esaminati dai giudici, per essere processati, a seconda dei casi, al tribunale federale di Abuja o di Jos, per accuse di omicidio, mutilazioni e possesso illegale di armi. Fra i 20 accusati comparsi ieri dinanzi al magistrato, 17 appartengono alla comunità Fulani e tre a quella Berom, rimasta vittima dei massacri compiuti ai primi di Marzo in tre villaggi, con bilanci discordanti che vanno da un centinaio a oltre 450 vittime. Gli episodi del mese scorso non sono nuovi nella regione di Jos, da tempo teatro di litigi tra comunità locali per le risorse, in particolare la terra, e di lotte di potere. (MISNA)
NIGERIA 6/4/2010
IN CARICA IL NUOVO GOVERNO
Una ex-dirigente della società anglo-olandese Royal Dutch Shell e un ex-manager della banca d’affari americana Goldman Sachs figurano tra i ministri più importanti che oggi ad Abuja hanno giurato nelle mani del presidente ad interim Goodluck Jonathan. A Deziani Allison-Madueke è stata assegnata la guida del dicastero per il Petrolio, snodo di potere cruciale in Nigeria, l’ottavo produttore mondiale di greggio. L’ex-banchiere di Goldman Sachs, Olusegun Aganga, sarà invece responsabile delle Finanze, un portafoglio chiave in un paese di 150 milioni di abitanti, ricco di risorse naturali ma segnato da squilibri regionali, degrado e povertà. Tra le altre figure di spicco dell’esecutivo ci sono il ministro per il Delta del Niger Godsay Orurebe, già numero due di questo dicastero, e il titolare per l’Informazione Dora Akunyili. La cerimonia di giuramento ha seguito di pochi giorni una visita dei più alti rappresentanti della comunità cristiana al presidente Umaru Yar’Adua, convalescente ad Abuja dopo essere stato costretto a lasciare il potere in Febbraio per motivi di salute. Secondo molti osservatori, uno dei compiti fondamentali del nuovo governo sarà condurre il paese alle elezioni previste nel primo semestre del 2011. È di oggi la notizia che in vista del voto gli Stati Uniti, uno dei maggiori importatori di greggio nigeriano, chiedono la sostituzione del presidente della Commissione elettorale centrale Maurice Iwu. Sembra possibile, in effetti, che gli affari delle multinazionali e i diritti sociali continuino a scontrarsi. Jonathan ha promesso di favorire la ripresa economica dopo un biennio difficile, impegnandosi però anche ad avviare attese riforme della sanità e dell’istruzione. Il suo governo è composto da 38 ministri, 13 dei quali già in carica durante l’amministrazione di Yar’Adua. (MISNA)
NIGERIA 7/4/2010
DELTA DEL NIGER: L’INDUSTRIA PETROLIFERA DIVENTA ‘LOCALE’
Dopo decenni di assenza dal settore petrolifero – quasi sempre a causa del mancato coinvolgimento da parte delle industrie multinazionali – le società e le imprese locali del Delta del Niger, dove si concentrano gran parte delle risorse di idrocarburi del paese, dovranno ora svolgere un ruolo chiave nel più importante settore dell’economia nigeriana. A prevederlo è una legge approvata dal parlamento di Abuja, che punta a regolare l’attività delle multinazionali estrattive, assicurare la partecipazione dei cittadini nigeriani nel settore e portare a una soluzione il problema della disoccupazione di massa, e in particolare giovanile, nella regione meridionale del Delta. In base alla legislazione, che deve essere ancora promulgata dal presidente ad interim Jonathan Goodluck, tutte le industrie straniere che operano nel Delta devono aprire sedi distaccate nelle zone in cui operano le estrazioni, garantendo la maggior parte dei posti di lavoro agli abitanti del posto. La legge prevede inoltre l’istituzione, presso ogni sede distaccata delle industrie petrolifere, di un ufficio diretto da un rappresentante delle comunità locali che si occupi di verificare l’impatto ambientale e socio-economico delle attività di estrazione. Il provvedimento, cui i media nazionali dedicano in questi giorni ampio spazio, precede l’approvazione di un disegno di legge per la riforma complessiva del settore petrolifero (Petroleum Industry Bill) che mira a dare una struttura giuridica più solida e moderna all’industria del greggio. Il testo, ampio e dettagliato ma ancora in discussione in parlamento, copre tutti gli aspetti del settore estrattivo (esplorazione, estrazione, vendita, distribuzione, rispetto dell'ambiente, diritti delle comunità locali) e intende risolvere le molte questioni rimaste aperte negli ultimi 40 anni, in particolare quelle concernenti la proprietà delle risorse petrolifere, l'assegnazione delle zone di sfruttamento, le partecipazioni statali, gli oneri fiscali delle compagnie petrolifere e la trasparenza nell'amministrazione. (MISNA)
NIGERIA 7/4/2010
DELTA DEL NIGER (2): DOPO GOVERNO CAMBIA SOCIETÀ PETROLIFERA
Con un’ordinanza pubblicata poche ore dopo la cerimonia di insediamento del suo nuovo governo, il presidente ad interim Goodluck Jonathan ha cambiato i vertici della società petrolifera di stato “Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation” (Nnpc). A dirigere la Nnpc è da oggi Alhaji Shehu Ladan, che ha preso il posto occupato da Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo per poco più di un anno. La nomina si inserisce nel contesto di mutamenti significativi in un settore chiave per la Nigeria, ottavo produttore mondiale di greggio ma ancora condizionata da squilibri regionali, povertà e degrado. Ieri aveva giurato nelle mani del presidente ad interim anche Deziani Allison-Madueke, ex-dirigente della società anglo-olandese Royal Dutch Shell e prima donna a guidare il ministero del Petrolio. Alla composizione del nuovo governo e alle nomine ai vertici della Nnpc oggi i quotidiani nigeriani dedicano l’apertura. Una riforma della società petrolifera nazionale figurava tra le priorità del programma del capo di stato Umaru Yar’Adua, costretto nel Febbraio scorso a rinunciare all’incarico a causa di problemi di salute. L’idea era trasformare la Nnpc secondo logiche di mercato con l’obiettivo di aumentare i profitti generati dai consorzi con le multinazionali che operano nel Delta del Niger, la regione meridionale dove si concentrano i giacimenti di greggio. (MISNA)
NIGERIA 8/4/2010
MUSICA E BALLI TRADIZIONALI AL PRIMO CARNEVALE DI LAGOS
Maschere colorate, balli tradizionali e concerti animano in questi giorni le vie della capitale economica Lagos dove, da Lunedì, è in corso la prima edizione del carnevale. Un appuntamento culturale che si propone di portare agli onori tradizioni ancestrali trasmesse dagli antenati liberati dalla schiavitù, originari del Brasile e delle Indie orientali, ma anche di attrarre turisti per sviluppare il potenziale economico di una megalopoli dove vivono tra i 15 e i 18 milioni di persone, spesso bollata come una delle città più violente d’Africa. L’evento è stato organizzato dallo stato di Lagos, uno dei 36 che formano la federazione della Nigeria, ed è finanziato da società e imprese che sperano in un cambiamento d’immagine della città. (MISNA)
Nigeria: Rapiti due tedeschi
Due tedeschi sono stati rapiti ieri lungo il fiume Imo, nel sud–est della Nigeria: lo hanno riferito fonti dei servizi di sicurezza locali. Si tratta di due uomini, di 54 e 55 anni, la cui identità non è stata rivelata, che sono stati prelevati mentre si trovavano sulla spiaggia di Azumini, sulle rive del fiume Imo, quando stavano per salire sul loro veicolo. Il sequestro è avvenuto nello stato di Abia, regione ricca di petrolio e vicina allo stato di Rivers situato nella regione petrolifera del delta del Niger. (19 Aprile 2010 - AGR)
Nigeria: l'esercito uccide due persone che attaccavano villaggio di cristiani a Jos. Strage evitata
Militari dell'esercito nigeriano hanno ucciso ieri due uomini, forse musulmani di etnia fulani, che stavano attaccando un villaggio abitato da cristiani alla periferia di Jos, capoluogo del travagliato stato di Plateau, nel centro della Nigeria. Lo annuncia oggi un comunicato dell'esercito.
Il villaggio è quello di Bisichi: «Quella che si profilava come una vera minaccia alla pace è stata evitata...dalla forza speciale, che ha reagito con rapidità ed ha ucciso due» persone, dice il gen. Donald Oji in un comunicato, che afferma che nel villaggio è tornata la calma in serata.
In marzo i pastori fulani hanno attaccato più volte villaggi abitati dall'etnia cristiana dei berom nella regione, uccidendo almeno 500 persone. La regione di Jos, che costituisce uno spartiacque fra il sud cristiano e il nord musulmano della Nigeria, è da tempo teatro di violenze in cui la religione s'intreccia con le rivalità etnico-tribale ed economico-sociale.
19/4/2010, Il Sole 24 Ore
NIGERIA 23/4/2010
NUOVA LEGGE PER PARTECIPAZIONE LOCALE NEL SETTORE PETROLIFERO
Una legge per favorire le società nigeriane impegnate nel settore petrolifero rispetto alle potenti e già ampiamente presenti multinazionali è stata firmata dal presidente ad interim Goodluck Ebele Jonathan e sembra essere stata accolta subito positivamente dal settore imprenditoriale nigeriano. La legge appena approvata rende obbligatorio l’inserimento di locali a tutti i livelli all’interno delle società operanti in Nigeria. “D’ora in avanti – ha detto Jonathan – autorità, operatori, società, alleanze e altre entità coinvolte in qualunque progetto, operazione, attività o transazione nell’industria nigeriana del petrolio e del gas dovranno considerare i nigeriani quale elemento importante nello sviluppo generale di progetti e nella loro gestione”. Per facilitare l’applicazione della legge sono stati approntati ‘meccanismi’ di guida che serviranno anche a monitorare il rispetto dei nuovi vincoli pensati per coinvolgere sempre di più la popolazione in quella che è la maggiore industria del paese, i cui proventi sono però dirottati all’estero o a ristrette cerchie locali. Definendo il provvedimento “storico”, il ministro delle risorse petrolifere Diezani Alison-Madueke, ha precisato che esso “non intende frustrare gli investimenti stranieri nel settore, ma incoraggiare la partecipazione locale“.(MISNA)
Due giornalisti cristiani uccisi a Jos in Nigeria
La violenza interreligiosa continua a fare vittime in Nigeria. Nello Stato di Plateau, al confine tra il nord musulmano e il sud cristiano, due giornalisti sono stati uccisi. I due, Nathan Dabak e Gyang Bwede, erano rispettivamente vice direttore e reporter del bimestrale cristiano «Portatore di luce». Una folla di giovani inferociti li ha fatto scendere dalla motocicletta su cui erano a bordo e li ha finiti a colpi di machete. Il duplice omicidio è avvenuto a Jos, che all'inizio dell'anno era stata teatro di scontri che lasciarono sul terreno almeno 1.500 morti.
Il Sole 24 Ore, 27/4/2010
NIGERIA 28/4/2010
ACCUSE DI FRODE ED ELEZIONI, CONFRONTO IN PARTITO DI GOVERNO
Un appello a “serrare i ranghi” e a scongiurare una situazione di “anarchia” è stato rivolto dal presidente “ad interim” Goodluck Jonathan durante una tesa riunione del Comitato esecutivo del “Partito democratico del popolo”, la formazione che domina la scena politica della Nigeria dalla fine degli anni ’90. Secondo il capo di stato “ad interim”, un dirigente del Pdp originario delle regioni meridionali ricche di petrolio, il rischio di una crisi “ingestibile” nel partito è legato all’avvicinarsi delle elezioni presidenziali in programma l’anno prossimo. La riunione del Comitato esecutivo si è tenuta ieri nel centro di Abuja, mentre a poche decine di metri centinaia di militanti del partito partecipavano a due cortei contrapposti. Ad alimentare la tensione è stata nei giorni scorsi l’incriminazione del presidente del Pdp, l’ex-ministro Vincent Ogbulafor. Già Lunedì il dirigente dovrà rispondere di fronte ai magistrati dell’Alta corte di Abuja di una presunta truffa del valore di un milione e 100.000 euro, truffa che sarebbe stata commessa nel 2001. Ogbulafor aveva sostenuto di recente che, nel rispetto di un accordo non scritto ma importante per i delicati equilibri del paese più popoloso d’Africa, il Pdp avrebbe dovuto candidare alla guida dello stato un politico originario del nord. Delle regioni settentrionali è originario il presidente Umaru Yar’Adua, costretto in Febbraio per problemi di salute a lasciare i poteri al suo vice Goodluck. (MISNA)
Nigeria, senatore sposa una ragazzina di 13 anni. Proteste ad Abuja
Un senatore nigeriano ha sposato una bambina egiziana di 13 anni, ma dopo le nozze sono arrivate subito le proteste. La questione sarà portata in Parlamento da un gruppo di senatrici che, chiedendo provvedimenti contro Ahmad Sani Yerima, hanno lanciato una petizione.
Anche la commissione nigeriana per i diritti umani ha annunciato di aver aperto un’inchiesta per appurare se il matrimonio sia legale e conoscere ogni dettaglio della questione. Il senatore Yerima, nel 1999, da governatore dello Stato di Zamfara, appoggio’ l’introduzione della sharia (la legge islamica). Secondo i giornali locali, Yerima aveva gia’ precedentemente sposato una ragazzina di 15 anni .
BlitzQuotidiano, 29/4/2010
NIGERIA 29/4/2010
DESTITUITO IL PRESIDENTE DELLA COMMISSIONE ELETTORALE
Maurice Iwu, presidente della Commissione elettorale nazionale (Nec) contestato da più parti dopo gli scrutinii del 2003 e del 2007, è stato destituito con effetto immediato dal capo di stato “ad interim” Goodluck Jonathan. La notizia è oggi l’apertura di tutti i maggiori quotidiani, da “This Day” a “The Vanguard”, che utilizzano espressioni come “licenziato” e “in permesso permanente”. Il provvedimento ha seguito di pochi giorni una visita di Goodluck negli Stati Uniti, uno dei principali paesi importatori di greggio nigeriano, che si erano espressi a favore di una rimozione di Iwu. Il mandato del presidente della Commissione sarebbe scaduto il 13 Giugno, prima delle elezioni presidenziali in programma l’anno prossimo. La questione della guida del Nec era riemersa con forza a partire da Febbraio, dopo che Goodluck aveva assunto la presidenza “ad interim” a causa dei problemi di salute del capo di stato Umaru Yar’Adua. Oggi la stampa nigeriana dà spazio a opinionisti ed esperti, che chiedono alla Nec più indipendenza e in alcuni casi si dicono favorevoli a una riforma della legge elettorale. (MISNA)
Nigeria mulls return for Ribadu
The Nigerian government has requested the withdrawal of criminal charges against Nuhu Ribadu, the former head of the anti-corruption agency.
Mr Ribadu faces charges of not declaring his assets while in office.
The request is seen as paving the way for the appointment of Mr Ribadu as a special advisor on fighting corruption to acting President, Goodluck Jonathan.
On Wednesday, Nigeria's Senate approved 38 of Mr Jonathan's 39 nominees for a new cabinet.
As head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Ribadu brought more than 1,000 cases to court.
Before his appointment no company in Nigeria had ever been charged for bribery.
But in 2007 he was removed in controversial circumstances and later charged with not declaring his assets while in office, a contravention of the 1999 constitution.
Anti-corruption campaigners say Mr Ribadu had upset powerful former state governors by trying to bring them to justice for alleged embezzlement.
He is currently in the United States but says he wants to return to Nigeria one day.
Mr Jonathan was named acting leader in February due to the on-going illness of President Umaru Yar'Adua, who has not been seen in public since November 2009.
Mr Ribadu was sacked shortly after Mr Yar'Adua won elections.
BBC, 1/4/2010
Nigeria clerics meet ill leader
Senior Nigerian clerics have told the BBC they have met the country's ailing President, Umaru Yar'Adua, saying he had difficulty speaking.
He went to Saudi Arabia in November for treatment and, despite returning home recently, has not been seen in public.
The clerics said he had been able to shake hands and alert to what had been happening during their prayer meeting.
His absence created widespread alarm in Nigeria, prompting his deputy, Goodluck Jonathan, to assume executive powers.
The BBC's Caroline Duffield in Lagos says it is the first time anyone outside his family has spoken of seeing the president for many months.
ANALYSIS
Caroline Duffield, BBC News, Lagos
When Mr Yar'Adua fell ill, a charged atmosphere seized Nigeria's political world, and many people feared a coup.
An ugly power struggle began between the president's allies, who fought to keep him in office, and those who wanted power handed to Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan.
Shortly after Mr Jonathan was made acting president in February, Mr Yar'Adua was smuggled back into the country in an apparent attempt to grab back power. But it was too late - political support had shifted to the new acting president.
This latest twist - a carefully managed meeting, with an apparently recuperating president on display for chosen friends and clerics - will provoke yet more questions about what his allies plan to do next.
Ustaz Musa Mohamed, chief imam of the Abuja National Mosque, said the president had sat next to his wife, with an aide close by, at the Presidential Villa on Thursday evening.
He did not stand up or move about but shook hands with the clerics, raised his hands to join them in prayer and moved his lips to try to speak.
Ibrahim Datti Ahmed, chairman of the Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria, said the meeting lasted 10 mintues.
"We said the purpose of visiting him was to see if he actually exists," he told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.
"Because there is a lot of speculation in the Nigerian press, that the president was not even in the country, that the president may have died or was not there.
"He was pale but certainly he was far far better than what we had been led to understand."
Mr Yar'Adua fell ill on 23 November last year and was flown to Saudi Arabia, where he stayed for three months.
His term of office expires in May 2011.
But amid the continuing uncertainty over his condition, it was announced last month that next year's presidential election could be brought forward by three months.
BBC, 2/4/2010
Nigeria inaugurates new cabinet
Nigeria's acting President Goodluck Jonathan has sworn in members of his new cabinet.
A senior executive at the investment bank Goldman Sachs, Olusegun Aganga, has been appointed finance minister.
Only 13 of the 38 new cabinet members are from the dissolved government, Reuters reports.
The inauguration follows a power vacuum which saw Mr Jonathan assume executive powers after President Umaru Yar'Adua fell ill in November 2009.
Mr Jonathan has placed former Mines Minister Deziani Allison-Madueke in charge of the country's oil ministry, a key post in the oil-rich state.
Finance Minister Olusegun Aganga is seen as a reformer, expected to back efforts for greater transparency and the fight against corruption, says the BBC's Caroline Duffield in Lagos.
New circle
With the new cabinet, Mr Jonathan is getting rid of nearly all of the people that Nigerians call "the cabale", our correspondent says.
They were President Yar'Adua's closest friends, who fought a vicious battle to keep him in office even when he was too sick to sign his own name, she adds.
That circle is now being swept away and the acting president is bringing in people loyal to him, our correspondent says.
Mr Jonathan has outlined his main priorities as electoral reforms, security in the oil-producing Niger Delta, providing a more reliable power supply and fighting corruption.
In March, Mr Jonathan dissolved the entire cabinet and made new nominations, most of which were accepted by Nigeria's senate last week.
The new cabinet is expected to remain in place until elections due next year.
These are due in April but could be held in January.
President Umaru Yar'Adua has not been seen in public since he fell ill in November 2009.
BBC, 6/4/2010
US wants new Nigerian poll head
The US government wants the head of Nigeria's election commission replaced ahead of new polls due in 2011.
Independent National Election Commission (Inec) chairman Maurice Iwu has been blamed for the flawed elections in 2007.
US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson said Mr Iwu was incapable of organising a credible election.
Nigeria is the third largest supplier of oil to the US.
The 2007 poll overseen by Mr Iwu was widely criticised for irregularities such as ballot-stuffing and voter intimidation.
The election was won by Umaru Yar'Adua, although legal challenges to the result lasted for months afterwards.
Mr Iwu's current term as Inec chairman ends in June 2010 and the Obama administration is keen that his past record be taken into account when a new chairman is appointed.
Sick president
The US demands came as a new US-Nigeria Binational Commission was formally inaugurated to improve co-operation between the two countries in areas such as trade, good governance and food security.
President Yar'Adua has not been seen in public since he fell ill in November 2009.
There was speculation that Mr Yar'Adua had in fact died.
However, Muslim and Christian clerics who have visited him over the past week say that, although in poor health, the president is still alive.
"We said the purpose of visiting him was to see if he actually exists," Ibrahim Datti Ahmed, chairman of the Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria, told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme last week.
Mr Yar'Adua's duties have been assumed by Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan.
In March, Mr Jonathan dissolved the entire cabinet and made new nominations, most of which were accepted by Nigeria's senate last week.
Mr Jonathan's new cabinet is expected to be formally inaugurated later on Tuesday.
BBC, 6/4/2010
Nigeria doctors in kidnap strike
Doctors in the southern Nigerian state of Edo have gone on strike to protest at the kidnapping of a colleague.
The director of a hospital in Benin City was abducted by unknown gunmen while he was on his way home from work.
Dr Osahun Enabulele, a spokesman for the Nigerian Medical Association, told the BBC the doctors were angered by the lack of security in Edo state.
In August 2009, doctors staged a demonstration in Edo after five co-workers were kidnapped.
The current strike started on Wednesday and involves more than 50 doctors at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital.
Dr Enabulele said the Association's members were only treating emergency cases.
Edo's Commissioner for Health Dr Moses Momoh told the BBC's Abdul Mohammed Isa the authorities were doing everything possible to find the kidnapped man.
He called on the striking doctors to return to work in the interests of their patients' health.
But the doctors have said they will strike until their colleague is found and released.
BBC, 8/4/2010
Nigeria ex-leader eyes presidency
Nigerian former military leader Gen Ibrahim Babangida will run in the 2011 presidential poll, his spokesman says.
He told the BBC that Gen Babangida will seek the nomination of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP).
Gen Babangida took power in 1985 in a bloodless coup, but was forced to step down in 1993 when he annulled elections generally considered to be fair.
Gen Babangida had declared he wanted the PDP nomination for 2007 elections, but later withdrew his candidacy.
The PDP has said that its presidential candidate will be from the mainly Muslim north, which includes Gen Babangida.
President Umaru Yar'Adua has not been seen in public since November 2009 because of his ill-health and is considered unlikely to seek re-election.
Acting President Goodluck Jonathan is from the south and so would not be a candidate under the PDP's policy of alternating power between north and south, with each region having two terms.
Correspondents say Gen Babangida, an extremely wealthy northern Muslim, is a polarising figure in Nigerian politics - a man who either inspires great admiration or intense dislike.
Gen Babangida - or IBB as he is known in Nigeria - pulled out of the 2007 election when then President Olusegun Obasanjo instead declared his support for Mr Yar'Adua's bid for the presidency.
BBC, 12/4/2010
Nigeria bill 'to stop extremism'
Politicians in Borno State in north-eastern Nigeria are debating a bill aimed at curbing religious extremism.
The Islamic Preaching Bill would outlaw preaching likely to cause a breach of the peace as well as requiring most clerics to obtain a preaching licence.
The legislation was proposed after an Islamic sect was blamed for sectarian violence in northern Nigeria last year in which hundreds of people died.
Sharia code runs alongside secular law in 12 of Nigeria's 36 states.
Under the new bill, there would be stiff penalties for clerics found guilty of insulting or inciting contempt of any religious belief which causes a breach of the peace, says the BBC's Bilkisu Babangida in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State.
The penalties include at least 10 years imprisonment and a fine.
Nigeria's 'Taliban'
Our correspondent says recommendations for preaching licences would be given by a new Islamic Religious Preaching Board consisting of clerics, public administrators and security personnel.
Imams of Friday mosque congregations and those who have led congregational prayers at religious festivals would be exempt from having to obtain a licence.
The bill is an attempt to prevent a recurrence of the violence which spread across Nigeria's northern states in July 2009 when supporters of an Islamic sect called Boko Haram - known locally as the "Taliban" - attacked police and government offices.
The group wanted to overthrow the Nigerian state, accusing it of being corrupted by Western ideas, ban Western-style education and impose an extreme interpretation of Islamic law.
Boko Haram means "Western education is a sin".
The sect's leader Mohammed Yusuf was killed while in police custody after the violence.
Before he died he told the BBC: "There are prominent Islamic preachers who have seen and understood that the present Western-style education is mixed with issues that run contrary to our beliefs in Islam.
"Like saying the world is a sphere. If it runs contrary to the teachings of Allah, we reject it. We also reject the theory of Darwinism."
BBC, 13/4/2010
Babangida 'will not buy top job'
Former Nigerian military leader Gen Ibrahim Babangida - one of the country's wealthiest men - has told the BBC he will not buy his way to power.
On Monday, he announced his intention to seek the nomination of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) in presidential elections due in 2011.
Gen Babangida, 68, said he had the necessary experience to be president.
The PDP says its presidential candidate will be from the mainly Muslim north, where Gen Babangida comes from.
Speaking to the BBC's Focus on Africa programme, Gen Babangida - known as "IBB" in Nigeria - dismissed any suggestion he might buy his way into office 17 years after leaving the top job.
"You'll be glad to know, I'm the most investigated Nigerian living today," he said.
"Perhaps after 17 years it ought to have come out by now, unless somebody is not doing his job."
IBRAHIM BABANGIDA
Senior officer during Nigeria's civil war, 1967-70
Participated in three coups - becoming leader in 1985
Survived a 1990 coup attempt
Resigned presidency in 1993 after nationwide strikes and protests
Nicknamed "Maradona" for his clever political dribbling skills
Gave himself the title "Evil genius"
He spoke of his determination to run for president for a second time even if the PDP does not select him as their candidate.
"What I am sure of - I can always find one party out of 51 that I can pitch my tent on," he said.
Gen Babangida took power in 1985 in a bloodless coup, but was toppled from power by mass protests after he annulled elections he had organised in 1993 that were widely seen as having been won by a businessman, Moshood Abiola.
The former military ruler defended his democratic credentials and said he could offer Nigerians "leadership and experience".
"I have conducted the freest and fairest - and this is attested by the international community - elections in the history of our country," he said.
"The fact that it was annulled is a different story altogether."
He pulled out of the 2007 presidential election when then-President Olusegun Obasanjo declared his support for current President Umaru Yar'Adua's candidacy.
Mr Yar'Adua, who is from northern Nigeria, has not been seen in public since November 2009 because of his ill-health and is considered unlikely to seek re-election.
Acting President Goodluck Jonathan is from the south and so would not be a candidate under the PDP policy of alternating power between north and south, with each region having two terms.
BBC, 13/4/2010
Goodluck 'not spoken to Yar'Adua'
Nigeria's Acting President Goodluck Jonathan has told the BBC he has not seen or had "sustained discussion" with the ill president in about five months.
Umaru Yar'Adua went to Saudi Arabia for treatment in November 2009 and despite returning home in February has still not been seen in public.
Mr Jonathan gave no indication whether the president's condition had improved.
He said he had not seen the president's doctor but said he had spoken to his wife three times.
"I've not seen the doctor. I have had - on about three occasions - discussions with his wife," he told the BBC's Network Africa programme.
"And I've had discussions with some of the other aides.
"In terms of the last time we [Mr Jonathan and Mr Yar'Adua] really had sustained discussions, that was 26 November - I think so - yeah," he said.
Mr Yar'Adua was flown to hospital in Saudi Arabia three days earlier, on 23 November.
Mr Jonathan said Mr Yar'Adua's doctor had not tried to contact him.
"He [the doctor] has not come to me. I don't want to compel him," said the acting president.
' Text message prosecutions'
In his interview, Mr Jonathan also touched on clashes in Jos, where tensions between Muslims and Christians since the start of the year have left many dead.
He promised to persecute those behind text messages inciting the violence, which he said was ethnic, rather than religious.
He explained that most of the indigenous population in Jos is Christian, while "some - not all" of the settlers are Muslim.
"So if anything touches a settler who is a Muslim, it will be interpreted as if they are attacking the Muslims," he said.
"And if the settlers that are Muslim now touched the indigenous population that are Christian, it will be interpreted as the Christians are being attacked."
Mr Jonathan thought the time for talking was over, and those responsible for committing crimes in Jos should be prosecuted.
"Anybody that is remotely or directly linked up with the crisis should be prosecuted," he said.
BBC, 14/4/2010
Nigeria police lose in sect case
The family of a man who died in police custody in Nigeria during an Islamist uprising last year has welcomed a court ruling against the police.
The court in Borno State said Baba Fugu Mohommed's killing was "brutal" and compared it to the Spanish Inquisition.
The judge said he had been killed simply because he was the father-in-law of Mohammed Yusuf, the leader the Boko Haram sect behind the violence.
Mr Yusuf was also killed after the July clashes, allegedly in police custody.
Human rights groups have frequently accused Nigeria's police of extra-judicial killings, but they are rarely brought to justice.
Compensation
Boko Haram supporters attacked a police station in the northern city of Maiduguri in July 2009, leading to days of clashes and hundreds of deaths - mostly sect members.
Mr Fugu Mohommed was detained by police in Borno State during the crisis.
His son told the BBC's Hausa Service that the family was satisfied with the outcome of the case as the police had been ordered to pay them compensation of about $665,000 (£430,000).
The court also ordered the police to apologise and exhume the body so it could be buried properly.
The death of Mr Yusuf after the suppression of the uprising has also been controversial.
Police say he was killed in a shoot-out when he tried to escape, but rights groups have said it was also a summary execution.
The Boko Haram supporters said they were fighting against Western education and believed Nigeria's government was being corrupted by Western ideas.
The sect wanted to see Islamic law imposed across the country.
BCC, 14/4/2010
Toxic Waste Ship Berths
A ship laden with toxic waste with registration name Maersk Vashville Hamburg berthed yesterday at the Tincan Island Port, Lagos.
Worried about the deadly implications of the arrival of the ship, relevant government authorities are meeting today to work out a plan of action.
THISDAY had reported that the ship loaded with toxic waste was headed for the country today but it arrived ahead of time.
A Dutch agency, VROM-Inspectorate and the International Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement (INECE) blew the alarm.
And as expected, the ship from Maersk Line, with registration number IMO 9304760, berthed at the Tin Can Island Port.
The important meeting will take place at 10.am and would involve officials from the Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Customs Service, State Security Services (SSS), Nigeria Police, National Environmental Standards & Regulatory Enforcement Agency (NESREA) and other relevant Federal Government agencies.
Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of NESREA Dr. Ngeri S. Benebo told THISDAY yesterday that her agency has not been receiving the cooperation of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) since the arrival of the ship.
“My deputy director came from the headquarters and on her way, she was called by the Ports Authority that they (NPA) have already checked the manifest and the container is not there. That was what the NPA told her.
“At the same time, the Maersk Line also called my office and told my Special Assistant at about 2pm that she should tell me that they have checked the manifest and the container is not there. So, we should tell the ports authority to allow them do whatever they want to do. But I told her to tell them that I can’t attend to that now and I am coming to Lagos,” she said.
She further stated that the NPA invited her deputy director to a meeting scheduled by 5pm yesterday but she insisted that their assignment was to check the manifest and not to attend any meeting.
“But there is nobody to give instructions, everybody in NPA has gone. My officers have been here but they have not talked to my officers on the issue. But hopefully, by 10 am tomorrow (that is, today), we will meet at the Port Manager’s office and may be, from there, we come here and start work,” she said.
Benebo stated that she was not satisfied with the level of security of the ship and expressed worry that the ship or its content might disappear.
The director-general stated that the container was being tracked abroad to be impounded before being shipped into Nigeria but it slipped along the line.
“They were being tracked when they were about to be shipped so that they can be impounded. But along the line, the containers slipped and they could not locate them. So, by the time they were able to successfully track the containers to know which ship would carry them, they realised that it was on this ship coming to Nigeria.
"We got the alert on April 6. As a matter of fact, they said it was going to berth on April 16.
So, they too must have got wind that Nigerians are on alert. They felt that we may not be prepared. So, they made sure it was here this morning,” she explained.
She confirmed that despite several protests, the Nigerian Customs has rebuffed all attempts to accommodate NESREA in the ports, thereby undermining efforts at policing the influx of toxic and hazardous products into the country.
The VROM Inspectorate, an independent unit of the Ministry of Housing Spatial Planning and the Environment, is the abbreviation of the Dutch name for housing, land-use planning and environmental management while INECE is the global network of environmental compliance and enforcement practitioners.
THISDAY gathered from documents obtained exclusively that the vessel, NASVILLE operated by American President Lines (APL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore-based Neptune Orient Lines, has some 70 storage (lead) batteries classified as Basel-code A1180, broken television among other things.
The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposa (Basel Convention), which Nigeria is a signatory to, lists products under code A1180 to include waste electrical and electronic assemblies or scrap containing components such as accumulators and other batteries, mercury-switches.
Others include glass from cathode-ray tubes and other activated glass and PCB-capacitors, or contaminated with constituents such as cadmium, mercury, lead, polychlorinated biphenyl.
These hazardous wastes are responsible for a wide range of abnormal health conditions including congenital heart diseases, cancer, and leukaemia.
This is not the first time that a ship with toxic waste is being sent to Nigeria.
In April 1987, a ship with solid toxic waste arrived the Coco Port in Delta State through Benin Republic but then it was not illegal to transport wastes to other countries. However, the uproar it generated prompted laws to change such act, particularly in countries that lack the capacity to turn waste into good use. All the residents where it was dumped died within 3 years.
This Day, 15/4/2010
‘Toxic Container’... Back to Sender
Maersk Line, the operator of MV Maersk Nashville, has been directed by the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) to retain the container NO. UESU4635950, carrying toxic waste onboard MV Maersk Nashville but return it to the port of loading in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
The vessel, which was detained by port authorities last Thursday, was released from detention Friday afternoon and commenced cargo operations at 6.20pm same evening.
Confirming this development, Managing Director of Maersk Nigeria Ltd, Mr. David Skov, said in a statement yesterday that the said container was inspected by NESREA around 8.30pm Friday evening.
According to him, Maersk Line is still awaiting the official report from the authorities as to the exact nature of the cargo.
“The shipment is handled by Safmarine. According to the Bill of Lading, the shipper - whose responsibility it is to correctly declare the content of the container - has listed the container’s contents as used items comprising a motor vehicle and miscellaneous personal effects, including electronic items (television sets and a car audio system).
“The goods were shipped from the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands on March 16, 2010. Neither Maersk Line, nor Safmarine, wishes to participate in illegal trade; illegal waste or any other type of illegal cargo,” he said.
Skov insisted that it is the responsibility of Maersk Line’s customers - the shippers - to correctly declare the content of the containers.
He acknowledged that both Maersk Line and Safmarine recognise the negative effects of transporting illegal waste on people's health and the environment in the countries where such illegal waste is discharged.
“As responsible companies we do not want to participate in such trade,” he said.
Skov noted that his company has a clear policy that it will not transport illegal goods of any kind and would not accept a shipment containing illegal goods.
According to him, the company also has procedures in place to ensure that it ascertains what can be transported legally through its global liner network.
“Representatives of Maersk Nigeria Limited, as agents for Maersk Line and Safmarine, have attended several meetings with the relevant authorities including but not limited to the Nigerian Customs Services, Nigerian Ports Authorities and NESREA.
“As environmentally responsible companies, both Maersk Line and Safmarine have throughout this incident cooperated fully with the Nigerian authorities in resolving this matter so far and we expect to continue this good cooperation in the future,” Skov said.
THISDAY reported that the various agencies at the Port last Friday moved swiftly to confirm the contents of the marked container brought along with others into the country on Thursday by a foreign ship, MV Maersk Nashvile.
Found in the container when opened at about 8.30pm in the night were disused motor batteries, tyres, which were more in number, broken black and white television sets, refrigerators and vehicle spare parts.
NESREA said the contents agreed with the pictures of the items in the container earlier sent to it.
The agency described the exercise as a success, saying the batteries were not in the ship’s manifest as being part of the cargo on board.
Following THISDAY’s story of last Thursday, alleging that the ship laden with toxic waste was on its way into the country, and was to berth at the Apapa Port on Friday, security agents, particularly the Nigeria customs had placed their men on red alert at the ports.
The vessel, however, arrived Tin Can Island Port Thursday, a day ahead of schedule.
Following the arrest and detention of all crew members, the captain and cargo of the ship and the representative of the Maersk Line in the country, one Mr. Victor Onyenku, stakeholders including NESREA, NPA, the Navy, SSS, NCS, NIMASA, Ports and Cargo Handlingn Services, Maersk Nigeria, NDLEA, Police, the Immigration Service and even the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA), convened a meeting on Friday in the office of the Port Manager, where the decision to retain the killer container No. UESU 463595/0 on board the vessel was reached.
The VROM Inspectorate, which alerted NESREA, is an independent unit of the Ministry of Housing Spatial Planning and the Environment. It is the abbreviation of the Dutch name for housing, land use planning and environmental management while INECE is the global network of environmental compliance and enforcement practitioners.
THIS DAY, 19/4/2010
Two Germans abducted in Nigeria
Gunmen in Nigeria have kidnapped two German men in the country's oil-producing south-east.
The men, aged 45 and 55, were abducted while at a local beach in Abia State.
The abduction is the second of foreign workers in Nigeria in the last 10 days. No group has said it carried out the latest kidnapping.
One of the men works in Port Harcourt, the capital of the neighbouring Rivers State, while the other came from Lagos, the AFP news agency reports.
The German foreign ministry said it was looking into the incident.
Hundreds of kidnappings are reported in the oil-rich Niger Delta every year. Most victims are released unharmed, some only after a ransom is paid.
BBC, 18/4/2010
Two killed in Nigeria jail-break
Two prisoners have been shot dead during an attempted jail break in the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna, officials say.
The BBC's Nurah Mohammed in Kaduna said he saw several injured prisoners and one wounded prison guard being taken to a nearby infirmary.
Nigeria's controller general of prisons said inmates burned down the prison workshop and another building.
This is the second attempted jail-break in Kaduna in the past few months.
There were reports of shooting and a loud explosion, and security forces surrounded the jail in an attempt to restore order.
The controller general confirmed earlier reports of the two deaths and said 39 had been wounded.
But our correspondent says people working inside the prison told him there were more than 50 injured, some quite seriously.
The controller general blamed the attempted jail-break on remand prisoners who were frustrated that their cases had not come to trial.
However, the police commissioner said the riot had been caused by the transfer of a popular prisoner.
He explained that when an inmate called Reverend King, who was awaiting a death sentence, was moved to another prison, inmates thought he had been executed and went on the rampage.
The commissioner confirmed that Mr King is safe and had been transferred to another jail in Kaduna.
Officials also said order had been restored at the prison, the inmates have been returned to their cells and that no-one escaped during the disturbance.
Prisoners in Kaduna have complained about overcrowding and poor treatment.
BBC, 20/4/2010
Toxic Waste: Minister Reads Riot Act to Criminals
Minister of Environment, Mr. John Odey, yesterday said government would not watch while criminally-minded people bring in toxic waste into Nigeria.
The minister spoke in respect of a Maersk Line vessel, “MV Nashiville,” which recently brought toxic waste into the country. He said the ship came from the Netherlands and was originally from Austria.
According to Odey, government would not tolerate a situation where unscrupulous people import toxic waste into Nigeria. He said it was his belief that the ship could not come into the country without a local business man/woman being a part of the plan to bring toxic waste into the country.
He said the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) would be empowered to enforce laws which would curb such sharp practices.
In the same vein, the minister has asked Nigerians to be mindful of the state of the goods they purchase. He warned against the use of such items as refrigerators and cars, which are largely consumed in the country when they are second hand.
The Maersk Line ship carried, among other things, 70 units of batteries which are classified as Bassel code A1180 as well as used TV sets.
An American agency, American President Lines (APL), operated the ship which is wholly owned by a subsidiary of a Singapore-based Neptune Orient Lines.
Meanwhile, the crew and agents on board the ship are being detained. The minister said investigations on the matter are still ongoing.
THIS DAY, 21/4/2010
Nigeria attack halts Ibori arrest
Police trying to arrest a former state governor in Nigeria charged with corruption have been attacked by his supporters, police say.
Officers were ambushed in Oghara, the hometown of James Ibori in Delta state.
Mr Ibori has been accused of corruption and money laundering while in office by Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
On Tuesday, the inspector general of police ordered the arrest of Mr Ibori within 24 hours.
The police spokesperson told the BBC the attack would not prevent the authorities from carrying out their "constitutional mandate" to arrest Mr Ibori.
On Monday, Mr Ibori's supporters blocked roads leading into Oghara to protest against the EFCC's charges against the ex-governor of the oil-rich state.
This is not the first time the EFCC has tried to prosecute Mr Ibori.
In December 2009, a court in Asaba cleared Mr Ibori of 170 charges of corruption - involving the laundering of millions of dollars - because there was no clear evidence to convict.
The EFCC has been at the centre of a political storm in recent years - dogged by allegations of political bias.
BBC, 21/4/2010
Reprisal killings in Jos, Nigeria
The Nigerian military has exhumed seven fresh corpses from shallow graves near the city of Jos, in the latest apparent revenge killing.
There are almost daily reports of attacks on people in rural villages and of disappearances in Jos itself.
The bodies of two local farmers were discovered earlier this week - three other people are still missing.
Clashes between rival communities - Hausa Muslims and Berom Christians - have left hundreds dead this year.
The BBC's Caroline Duffield in Lagos says tensions were high in Plateau State at the weekend - because a Christian pastor and his wife were abducted and murdered in the next door state, Bauchi.
JOS, PLATEAU STATE
Deadly riots in 2001, 2008 and 2010
City divided into Christian and Muslim areas
Divisions accentuated by system of classifying people as indigenes and settlers
Hausa-speaking Muslims living in Jos for decades are still classified as settlers
Settlers find it difficult to stand for election
Communities divided along party lines: Christians mostly back the ruling PDP; Muslims generally supporting the opposition ANPP
On Monday, aid workers found the mutilated bodies of an elderly man and a woman, Berom farmers close to Rim village, south of Jos.
They had machete wounds and acid burns.
Aid workers photographed a trail of blood - they believe it is that of three more missing villagers.
Now the military has unearthed the remains of seven people from shallow graves close to the village of Rahoss.
Our reporter says they are thought to be Hausa Muslim travellers hacked to death in a machete attack.
The killings are not thought to be directly linked but part of the hostility between local farmers and Hausa Fulani herdsman.
Farmers experience regular attacks and low-level raids and killings from Fulani herdsmen in remote areas.
Outside the city, the violence is about a struggle for farmland, and grazing rights, our reporter says.
But in Jos itself, the friction is deeply political, she says.
Violence is often sparked by settlements spilling into new land - or by tension in local government.
BBC, 21/4/2010
Germans held in Nigeria are freed
Two German men seized by gunmen while swimming in a Nigerian river have been freed after six days.
The men, aged 45 and 55, were kidnapped on April 18 in the oil-producing south east of the country.
"Both our German countrymen are safe and sound and again free," Germany's foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, said in a statement.
Dozens of foreigners have ben kidnapped in the Niger Delta, which is home to Africa's biggest oil and gas industry.
The men were abducted in Abia state after going swimming in the Imo River.
Referring to the oil city capital of neighbouring Rivers State, Mr Westerwelle added: "They are doing well and are in safe hands in Port Harcourt."
The abduction is the second of foreign workers in Nigeria in the last 10 days. No group has said it carried out the latest kidnapping.
BBC, 24/4/2010
'Why I burnt my Nigerian friend's house down'
The first night of the January riots in the Nigerian city of Jos took Umar D'Adam by surprise and, as the gunfire and burning began, the 20-year-old - known as "D-Boy" - fled.
It was the beginning of a spiral of brutality in central Nigeria that has left hundreds dead.
As he sheltered in the army barracks, someone handed D-Boy a phone. It was his close friend, Vincent Alaibe, a Christian.
"I just heard his voice telling me, it's my house, that he's burned it," remembers D-Boy.
"He was shouting. He showed other people my house, and they burned it, including him.
"He thought I was dead. I told him: 'I am alive.'"
Months later, the family home in the Anglo-Jos district is still in ruins: A blackened fridge, the melted remains of a TV, and once-treasured belongings crunch underfoot.
"My mum, she cooked for him. He used to come here to sleep, my mum would give him a key," D-Boy says softly.
He has been in contact with Vincent, and offers to take us to meet him.
The cycle of killing and revenge has changed the identity of whole neighbourhoods in Jos and arranging a simple meeting is not easy.
The young friends can only meet outside the neighbourhood; there is difficulty talking.
Slight and fresh faced, barely out of their teens, they sit awkwardly, eyes to the ground.
"If I don't do it, they are going to kill me," says Vincent, slowly.
'Forgiveness'
He describes how a gang of ethnic Berom Christian men were attacking the area, armed with guns, cutlasses and petrol-bombs.
Vincent - one of few Christian residents - was singled out, and made to go with them, to point out D-Boy's house.
"They know he is my friend. That is why they forced me to do it. They knew that I am a Christian, and he is a Muslim.
"I am looking for forgiveness," he chokes.
D-Boy stares straight ahead, listening.
"Don't do it again," he bursts out.
"If this thing happens again, don't put your hand in it. I know you are a good person."
D-Boy's parents have forgiven Vincent, and would like to see him again at the family home.
But violent threats of revenge, and fear of arrest, have forced him to move away.
"If I enter the area, they will kill me," he says.
Broken pacts
North of the city, people in the tiny Christian enclave of Chwelnyap, in Congo-Russia district, were also taken aback by the riots.
"There was an agreement," insists Chief Ibrahim Choji-Dusu.
His community is surrounded by four almost exclusively ethnic Hausa Muslim neighbourhoods.
The day before, he sat down with his Muslim neighbours to discuss the hostile mood.
"The agreement was, there should never be anybody from any of the communities that should attack anybody," Chief Choji-Dusu says, again and again.
But on morning of 17 January, 170 homes in Chwelnyap were torched.
Chief Chiji-Dusu and others recognised those they had spoken with the previous day among the attackers.
"We spoke: 'Ah! You! We made an agreement yesterday. Why do you attack us now?'"
"They said: 'No matter how used you are to your chicken, it will not stop you slaughtering it.'
"That is the slogan they use," he says.
The BBC contacted community leaders in those neighbouring areas.
Some said they had never attended the peace meeting on 16 January.
Others claimed that residents of Chwelnyap attacked first, breaking the agreement.
Others admitted that they had lost control of their own youths, as rioting spread elsewhere in the city.
Five people from Chwelnyap were killed - a number Chief Choji-Dusu considers a lucky escape.
'Silent killings'
Three months later, he says the people of Chwelnyap are ready to forgive. But the atmosphere has changed, and there has been virtually no exchange about what happened.
"Our problem is, how do we come and sit together?" he asks.
"We can't go there. Our people are being killed any time they pass in that area.
"Once you go, you never come back. You will be a missing person."
The police and military continue to recover corpses dumped inside the city limits and in rural villages outside.
Victims of the so-called "silent killings" - both Berom Christians and Hausa Muslims - are being discovered every week.
"Rather than coming together, people are moving apart," observes Emmanuel Nanle, a Christian youth worker.
Beer parlours and Bible sellers
Jos - once a balmy holiday retreat enjoyed by British colonials - is being carved up into exclusive neighbourhoods.
Armoured military vehicles squat on the interfaces.
On the Christian side, beer parlours and Bible-sellers jostle for space.
JOS, PLATEAU STATE
Deadly riots in 2001, 2008 and 2010
City divided into Christian and Muslim areas
Divisions accentuated by system of classifying people as indigenes and settlers
Hausa-speaking Muslims living in Jos for decades are still classified as settlers
Settlers find it difficult to stand for election
Communities divided along party lines: Christians mostly back the ruling PDP; Muslims generally supporting the opposition ANPP
Women in brightly coloured hijabs and the ornate woven caps common in the north mark out the Hausa Muslim side.
"The whole of this street - Ajayi Street - used to be a poker street," explains Mr Nanle, smiling.
"You would find Christians and Muslims playing poker together, whiling away time after work.
"But now, because of the crisis, the Christians dare not come, and the Muslims are playing poker by themselves."
Areas of Jos that were once ethnically and religiously mixed - Dogon Dutse, Genta Adamu and Nassarawa Gwom - are now becoming exclusive.
Chief Choji-Dusu believes the shifts in geography are barring local discussion of what has happened.
"The truth is, we need to rub minds, and reason," he says.
"We, the Christians, we don't want to fight. But if we are destabilised in Plateau State, it will affect the country. It will shake the country.'"
BBC, 26/4/2010
Nigeria party leader is charged
The chairman of Nigeria's governing party, Vincent Ogbulafor, has been charged with fraud.
Mr Ogbulafor is accused of fraudulently awarding $1.5m (£1m) in federal funds when he was a government minister under President Olusegun Obasanjo.
He denies the charges but if convicted, Mr Ogbulafor would have to resign.
Correspondents say the case is being seen against the background of a struggle for control of the leadership of the People's Democratic Party.
It comes the day before an executive meeting of the PDP, which is considering its options for a candidate for the presidential election in 2011.
President Umaru Yar'Adua is seen as unlikely to stand as he is sick and has not been seen in public since November 2009.
Acting President Goodluck Jonathan is a southerner and the PDP has said its candidate will be from the north.
BBC, 26/4/2010
Nigeria protests over child bride
Women's groups in Nigeria are threatening to take legal action against a senator, following reports he married a 13-year-old Egyptian girl.
Ahmad Sani Yerima, 49, is reported to have married her at the national mosque in Abuja several weeks ago.
Female senators have promised to table for debate a petition from the groups calling for Mr Sani to be reprimanded.
Meanwhile, Nigeria's human rights commission has begun an investigation into whether the marriage is legal.
The BBC's Caroline Duffield in Lagos says Mr Sani is refusing to speak publicly about the matter.
He was the governor of Zamfara state and oversaw the introduction of Sharia law - the first state in the north to do so in 1999.
The petition, handed over to a group of female senators on Tuesday, wants the identity of the child, her age, the circumstances of her entry into Nigeria and the dowry paid to her family to be investigated.
The women's rights groups believe Mr Sani has broken the law, pointing to the Child Rights Act of 2003.
"When you marry them out at this early stage, is it because it is viewed as a commodity that can be easily disposed of and a new one acquired," Nigeria's Punch newspaper quotes Mma Wokocha, the leader of the coalition protesting about the marriage.
Newspaper reports have also accused him of having previously married a 15-year-old girl in 2006.
A spokesman for Nigeria's senate has insisted that the chamber does not comment of the personal affairs of individual members.
BBC, 28/4/2010
Nigeria fires elections chief
Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria's acting president, has ordered the head of the country's electoral commission to step down.
"The acting president ... has directed the chairman of the Independent National Election Commission (INEC), Maurice Iwu, to proceed on pre-disengagement leave with immediate effect," Ima Niboro, spokesman for Jonathan, said on Wednesday.
This came ahead of growing speculation that Jonathan was positioning himself to run for president of Africa's most populous nation in elections next year.
However, this goes against an informal arrangement within the country's ruling party, the People's Democratic Party (PDP), that their 2011 presidential candidate, should be from the predominately Muslim north of the country.
Jonathan is a Christian from the oil rich Delta region in the south.
It is believed that Iwu was opposed to Jonathan's candidacy in the elections that are expected to see 75 million Nigerians go the polls in either January or April next year.
The acting president has been in charge of Nigeria since Umaru Yar'adua, the Nigerian president, fell sick last November.
AlJazeera English, 29/4/2010
Nigerians hail poll chief sacking
Nigerians have welcomed acting President Goodluck Jonathan's decision to remove the much criticised election chief Maurice Iwu.
Opposition Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora told the BBC that his removal was "the beginning of electoral reform".
Mr Iwu presided over the last election in 2007, which was widely seen as chaotic and fraudulent.
The US recently doubted whether Mr Iwu could organise a credible election next year and called for him to be replaced.
Nigerian activists have long called for him to go.
The country's newspapers are in celebratory mood.
Serious reform?
Mr Jonathan has committed himself to pursuing electoral reform.
"Elections in Nigeria from now onwards will be free and fair," he said recently in a BBC interview.
Mr Iwu's term as chairman of Inec was due to end in June 2010.
The BBC's Chris Ewokor in Abuja says his premature departure could be a symbolic move by Mr Jonathan to make him appear serious about electoral reform.
Mr Jonathan recently visited the US and his decision to remove Mr Iwu will also be popular with the Obama administration.
However the real indication of whether or not Mr Jonathan is serious about electoral reform will come when Mr Iwu's replacement is chosen, our correspondent said.
The selection of Mr Iwu's replacement would not be made by the acting president alone, Mr Mamora said.
Ebola cure claim
The National Judicial Council would draw up a shortlist of three names, which would then be discussed by Mr Jonathan together with the National Council of State, he said.
Mr Jonathan has said a civil servant would run the Independent National Election Commission (Inec) until a permanent replacement was found.
Mr Iwu has had a colourful career.
He once announced at a medical conference in the US that he had discovered the cure for the Ebola virus - a claim which later proved to be untrue.
Mr Jonathan is standing in for President Umaru Yar'Adua, who is sick and has not been seen in public since November 2009.
Mr Yar'Adua was elected in 2007, although legal challenges to the result lasted for months afterwards.
BBC, 29/4/2010
Nigerian denies child bride claim
A Nigerian senator accused of marrying a 13-year-old Egyptian girl says he has done nothing wrong.
Ahmad Sani Yerima, 49, told the BBC that his fourth wife was not 13, but would not say how old she was.
He denied breaking the law but said he would not respect any law that contradicted his religious beliefs.
The Nigerian senate ordered an investigation after complaints from women's groups but the senator said he did not care what the groups thought.
Mr Sani was the governor of Zamfara state, where he oversaw the introduction of Sharia law - for the first time in a northern state - in 1999.
He said he felt it was this that was behind the uproar over his marriage.
"I consider all those complaining about this issue as detractors, because since 1999... many people have been waging different kind of wars against me," he told the BBC's Hausa Service by telephone from Egypt.
The senator said he had followed "standard rules for marriage in Islam".
"I don't care about the issue of age since I have not violated any rule as far as Islam is concerned," he said.
"History tells us that Prophet Muhammad did marry a young girl as well. Therefore I have not contravened any law. Even if she is 13, as it is being falsely peddled around.
"If I state the age, they will still use it to smear Islam," he said.
The BBC's Caroline Duffield in Lagos says newspaper reports of the marriage have created a storm among human rights groups.
Female senators - lawyers and doctors - who are protesting say that they fear for the child's health.
"What we are concerned with is that our minors, the girl child, should be allowed to mature, before going into marriage," Mma Wokocha, president of the Women's Medical Association and one of those behind a petition, told the BBC.
"This very evil act should not be seen to be perpetrated by one of our distinguished legislators... that is what we are saying.''
The senator is reported to have paid a dowry of $100,000 (£66,000) to the child's parents - and to have brought the girl into Nigeria from Egypt.
The women's groups want Mr Sani to be taken to court, to face a fine and a jail sentence.
They say he has contravened the Child Rights Act of 2003 which, although not ratified by all Nigeria's 36 states, is law in the capital where he lives and his marriage is believed to have taken place.
"As a Muslim, as I always say, I consider God's law and that of his prophet above any other law," Mr Sani said.
"I will not respect any law that contradicts that and whoever wants to sanction me for that is free to do that."
Newspaper reports have also accused the senator of having previously married a 15-year-old girl in 2006.
BBC, 29/4/2010
Is Jonathan serious about Nigeria electoral reform?
Cheeks are still flushed and wine glasses still raised at the dumping of Maurice Iwu, Nigeria's criticised elections chief.
Accused of presiding over five years of massive electoral fraud, he is widely despised.
Elections are barely a year away in this pulsing, oil-rich nation, and Mr Iwu's removal is raising big questions - and big hopes - for democracy.
"Don't replace a dog with a monkey. In the end, both are animals with a tail," says barrister Chief Emeke Ngigi, quoting a proverb from his village.
"What does it mean? We don't want another Iwu. Nigerians will not stand for it."
Whoever is the next election chief will carry the hope of a 150 million people, robbed of their votes in every election since the end of military rule in 1999.
Nigerians know Mr Iwu's removal alone is merely a tremor - far from the earthquake of reform many pray for.
Gateway to power
In Nigeria, when the bodies of voters pile up on the campaign trail, you know the election fight is in full swing.
Political office here is access to massive oil wealth: a gateway to power and patronage.
And so people are familiar with the organised, mass falsification of voting registers; wearily, they shake their heads at ballot boxes, mysteriously stuffed by 0900 hours on polling day.
A new note was struck in March, when acting President Goodluck Jonathan visited the US.
"Elections in Nigeria will, from now onwards, will be free and fair," he promised.
It is almost a battle-cry.
Shredding the rule-book - a beautiful ambition - would be a strenuous fight.
Stench of corruption
It is a fight Mr Jonathan appears to want.
"He has a special opportunity," observes Auwal Rafsanjani, Chairman of the Zero Corruption Coalition.
"He has the chance to correct the past. People will throng to him, to support sincerity."
But correcting the sins of the past will not be easy.
At every election, Nigeria's electoral sickness re-appears, in the shape of hungry, barefoot private armies - the "hired political thugs".
In the pay of wealthy candidates, these youths - almost children - are employed to threaten, harass and intimidate voters.
And beyond the behaviour of power-hungry politicians, real change requires the basics:
safe custody of election materials
rigorous prosecution of electoral offences
judges that rule with integrity on disputed results
impartial security for every voter from police and military
and preventing the all-powerful electoral officers from abusing their positions.
The system reeks of money and corruption, with individuals milking it at every level.
Fork in the road
They are likely to fight to resist change.
The question is: will Mr Jonathan take them on? "The critical point is, we need to know whether Goodluck Jonathan himself is standing," insists Mr Rafsanjani.
That question at present is unanswered.
Shiny billboards appeared in Abuja last week - "Goodluck is the Positive Hope for Nigeria," they breathed, raising intense speculation.
The acting president dissociated himself from them.
But, conspicuously, has still not ruled out running.
Some observers believe if he does stand, electoral reform will remain a dream.
They believe the moment he declares his candidacy, the corruption machine - his party bureaucracy, the security services, the election commission - will swing behind him, wanted or not.
They are an unstoppable force.
"Changing the rules as the umpire - and then competing yourself - destroys your credibility," points out another veteran political insider.
"It erodes credibility as a leader; it erodes the credibility of the changes he is trying to make."
It seems Mr Jonathan - the quiet man, who was never supposed to be president - stands at a fork in the road.
"He is the wild card. He has a choice," says Mr Rafsanjani.
"He could run for office. But if he sacrifices that opportunity, he can impose his reforms.
"Then, he will be remembered as a hero, who organised free and fair elections."
BBC, 30/4/2010
Nessun commento:
Posta un commento