West Africa : News

[Premium Times]Two members of the immediate family and driver of Supreme Court Judge, Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour, were kidnapped on their way to Benin, the Edo State capital, on Friday night, throwing the family into confusion. (AllAfrica)

[Daily Trust]Reverend Pastor Charles Nwachukwu Ejim of All Nations for Christ Bible Church, Akpugo, Nkanu West Local Government Area of Enugu State and his wife, Charity, have given a graphic and pathetic detail of how their last child, four-year-old Marvelous Ugochukwu Ejim was cunningly picked by a trusted friend of the family and subsequently had his throat slashed with a knife. The blood of the lad was apparently collected by his killer(s) for ritual purpose since there was no trace of blood around the spot inside (AllAfrica)

[Premium Times]The President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, PSN, Olumide Akintayo, on Saturday said at least 62 illegal patent medicine stores had been sealed in Lagos State since February. (AllAfrica)

[Premium Times]A former Head of State, Muhammadu Buhari, declared on Saturday that the Federal Government lacks the competence to address the security challenges confronting the nation, noting that it (country) is hopelessly adrift. (AllAfrica)

[Vanguard]ARMED men suspected to be kidnappers have abducted the wife and daughter of a Supreme Court Judge, (names withheld). (AllAfrica)

[CAF]The symposium for the analysis of the Orange Africa Cup of Nations 2012 and 2013 resumed for the second day in Cairo, Egypt. The second day started with a session including Stephen Keshi, coach of Nigeria, Herve Renard Zambia coach and three football committee members, Ben Koufie (Ghana), Mohamed Abdullah Mazda (Sudan) and Mallouche Belhassan (Tunisia). (AllAfrica)

[Daily Trust]The reason I guess motorcars have reverse gear is that inventors envisage the user may get to that level when going forward is no longer desirable and a backward movement is a preferred. Apure stroke of ingenuity by car makers. After 52 years as a nation, it is obvious that Naija is not moving forward as a nation. But don't tell the politricians who live on the deception that. They may put you down before you have the chance to profess your innocence. Truth is not a defence when these people's source of su (AllAfrica)

[Daily Trust]The recent threat of war by Asari Dakubo if President Goodluck Jonathan does not become the President of this country in 2015 for a second term does not and will not rattle the north. (AllAfrica)

[Daily Trust]The death has occurred of Malam Sanusi Alasan Daurawa, a newspaper vendor with the Newspaper Vendors Association, Abuja Branch. (AllAfrica)

[Daily Trust]Nigeria is once again shot into global reckoning with proposed Lekki Port project designed to be an integrated, modern and multi-purpose port which will leverage on a number of physical and economic advantages offered by Africa. (AllAfrica)

[Daily Trust]Ali Ahmad is a member of the House of Representatives, representing Ilorin East/South federal constituency. The Chairman, House Committee on Justice, who chaired the just concluded North-East Zonal Public Hearing on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) in this interview, stressed the need to fine-tune the Bill to protect the environment. Excerpts: (AllAfrica)

[Daily Trust]Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has said he personally warned former Borno, Bayelsa and Rivers States governors against giving youth arms during elections. Atiku who featured as a guest in a popular BBC Hausa Service programme 'Geneva Hanya' spoke also on the future of Nigerian election and PDP internal crises. Excerpts: (AllAfrica)

[Daily Trust]Former Head of State and Leader of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), General Muhammadu Buhari, has said that Nigeria is reaching its stretch limit and breaking point with anarchy loming, unless something is urgently done to reverse the trend. (AllAfrica)

[Daily Trust]Despite the alternative offered by digital publications more Nigerians still prefer the conventional print versions of newspapers than going online to read them. (AllAfrica)

[Daily Trust]After years of devastating communal bloodbath with heavy casualties on both sides, Fulanis and Beroms in Plateau North Senatorial District are heading toward a truce, as both sides recently resolved to forgive each other and coexist peacefully. (AllAfrica)

[Daily Trust]The Rainbow Book Club in partnership with the British Council Port Harcourt, organised a tribute evening in honour of the late prof. Chinua Achebe on the 26th of April 2013 at the council office. (AllAfrica)

[Daily Trust]Last week, President Goodluck Jonathan led a delegation to the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa, which opened in Cape Town, South Africa on Wednesday. What has the delegation returned with? (AllAfrica)

[Premium Times]Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger on Saturday dissociated himself from posters depicting him to be seeking the PDP presidential ticket for the 2015 election. (AllAfrica)

[Premium Times]The Chairman of the defunct Presidential Technical Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution, Clement Ebri, has objected to a six-year single tenure proposal for the office of the President, Vice President, governors and their deputies, saying it is not practicable as long as Nigeria's electoral process is not sanitized. (AllAfrica)

[Premium Times]The doctors' strike at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital has not been called off, the leader of the doctors has clarified. (AllAfrica)

[CAF]Stephen Keshi led Nigeria to their third Africa Cup of Nations title earlier this year in South Africa. He is in Cairo to attend the symposium for the analysis if the Orange Africa Cup of Nations 2012 and 2013. Cafonline.com had a short talk with Mr Keshi. (AllAfrica)

[CAF]Burkina Faso defied all odds and finished the 2013 Orange CAF Africa Cup of Nations as losing finalists. Cafonline.com had a short talk with The Stallions Belgian coach Paul Put who is in Cairo to participate in the Symposium for the analysis of the last two editions of AFCON. (AllAfrica)

[RFI]12 May will mark the 16th anniversary that French businessman Michel Thierry Atangana has been imprisoned in Cameroon, after being accused of embezzling public funds and put on trial without a lawyer. (AllAfrica)

[Daily Trust]It is an eyesore when one walks into a typical Nigerian market and sees drugs sold openly as if they are common merchandise like clothes and cosmetics. This attitude betrays an acute lack of understanding of the nature of drugs and the obvious fact that those peddling them are not professionals who are authorized to handle such sensitive products. But the practice has continued to thrive nevertheless, aided in part by the patronage of the public who have indirectly continued to sustain the practice. (AllAfrica)

[Daily Trust]Prolific writer, retired civil servant and traditional ruler, Alhaji Ahmadu Kurfi (Maradin Katsina) on Thursday presented three new books, Know Your Country and Beyond, Election Contest Candidate's Companion and Sixty Years Long March Towards Democracy at a well attended Book Launch which held at the nation's capital, Abuja. The books will add another notch in a long list of books the elder statesman has authored over the years. (AllAfrica)

[Daily Trust]Every generation springs up its extraordinary men and women of mission. Any sincere person with the faintest understanding of Enugu's socio-political and economic terrain would readily tell you that Mpu was probably the last place anybody would have given any chance of producing a Deputy President of the Nigerian Senate. Son of a teacher at the time, Senator Ekweremadu was never born into any of the political dynasties in Enugu. I am also almost certain that not even the people of Mpu fully understood what (AllAfrica)

[Daily Trust]Baga has been in the news recently for all the wrong reasons. The story was of death, destruction and humanitarian crisis. Over 180 were killed and thousands of homes were destroyed as a result of confrontation between the Joint Task Force and members of the Boko Haram. Baga has since buried its dead and the Nigerian state watched hopelessly as another cycle of violence reached Wukari. (AllAfrica)

[Daily Trust]A Ghanaian poet Macdell Joshua Kofi Sackey, Enugu-based Children's Literature Writer, Chiaka Ukachukwu Obasi as well as bilingual author Taofeek Ademola Olayiwola have already arrived in Iseyin, Oyo State, for the May/June 2013 session of the Ebedi Writers' Residency. The writers will be in residence for six weeks (May 6 to June 20 2013). (AllAfrica)

[Daily Trust]No doubt the issue of the deterioration in the domestic security situation and the fear of the possibility of the failure of our latest democratic experiment have been source of great concern to all lovers of this country. Everywhere evidence of grave threats of domestic insecurity stares us in the face. This failure of government to live up to its legitimate expectations and constitutional responsibilities, in turn, led to despondency, rapidly rising tension and frustration, all of which were capable of b (AllAfrica)

[Daily Trust]Two episodes occurring within a few hours of each other in two different Nigerian states last week resulted in the highest casualties ever recorded by Nigerian security forces in a single day since the Civil War ended in 1970. We are not counting here the 1992 C-130 Hercules plane crash at Ejigbo, near Lagos, when some 170 Army Majors and equivalent ranks perished in one tragic accident. (AllAfrica)

DAKAR 10 May 2013 (IRIN) - Academics and government, military and civil society representatives gathered for a conference in the Senegalese capital this week to assess the interplay between development and violent extremism in West Africa, with some participants suggesting that underdevelopment, marginalization and weak governance create a breeding ground for militancy. (IRIN)