Three weeks ago the BBC World Service Trust, a charity for the British network, was angling for a share of State Department funding to promote Internet freedom. But after Americans revolted at the idea, the organization has pulled out entirely, failing to even submit a grant proposal. The BBC charity …
On April 9, Nigerians head to the polls to vote in the presidential and gubernatorial elections. Since 1999, when the country returned to civilian rule, each election has been marred by violence, bribery, and allegations of fraud. Adding to the already daunting challenge is President Goodluck Jonathan’s decision to run …
Religious violence in Nigeria is becoming as visible as the government’s inability to control it. On Sunday, ethnic violence ravaged the southern city of Jos. Men armed with machetes wreaked havoc on southern villages in retaliation for the violence that claimed 200 lives in January. Outbursts of religious violence are …
Nigeria regained a president on February 9, 2010, when the parliament voted a provisional transfer of executive power to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan. Nigeria’s elected president Umaru Yar’Adua, suffers from chronic illness and left Nigeria for medical treatment in Saudi Arabia in late November 2009. Jonathan, a former university professor …
Al-Qaeda’s strength in Africa is expanding. Cells in northern Africa are spreading southwards to Nigeria, eager to recruit impressionable Muslims to join their international terror network. In the wake of January’s violent clash between Christians and Muslims in the diverse city of Jos, al-Qaeda’s immediate reaction was to equip and …
Pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN), the explosive Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to detonate aboard Northwest Airlines flight 253, is among the most powerful of explosives in the world and was widely used to blow up airplanes in the 1970s and 1980s. The only reason the passengers of Flight 253 are still alive …
Initiative for Public Policy Analysis executive director Thompson Ayodele writes about hunger, trade, and his homeland Nigeria in The Madison Times: Food prices have skyrocketed internationally. In my own Nigeria, rice has epitomized the crisis after doubling in price since last year. … It’s not hard to link African food …
