CNN's Christian Purefoy reports on Nigeria's missing president.
Related stories: Video report - Goodluck Jonathan takes over from Yar'Adua
President Umaru Yar'Adua is dead
President Yar'adua hospitalized in Saudi Arabia
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
Nigeria said it will soon deploy air marshals on its flights to the United States to increase security after the foiled Christmas day attack on a U.S. airliner by a Nigerian man, Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab.
Nigerian Aviation Minister Babatunde Omotoba told reporters Wednesday that the United States approached Nigeria about putting air marshals on its U.S.-bound flights.
Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority Director Harold Demuren said the decision demonstrates Nigeria’s commitment to aviation security.
“Definitely we believe that this is a demonstration that our country is completely committed to aviation security,” he said.
Since the Christmas day foiled attack on a U.S. airliner bound for the city of Detroit, the United States has moved to place Nigeria on a security watch list and invoked extra screening for passengers from Nigeria to the United States.
Demuren said the Nigerian government has made known its displeasure with the new U.S. restrictions.
“We are not happy that we are listed. We are very dissatisfied about this and we have made it very clear. We hope that this will be revisited very quickly,” Demuren said.
He said since the attempted airline bombing of a U.S.-bound airliner by Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, Nigeria has taken additional measures to enhance aviation security.
“We have had 100 percent examination at our airports, we are introducing three-D full-body scanners, we are doing second screening of all hand luggage, we have met all ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) security directives,” he said.
Demuren said Nigeria has also passed U.S. Transportation Security Administration audit twice for Lagos and Abuja airports.
He said the request to put air marshals on U.S.-bound flights came from the Obama administration and Nigeria consented.
Demuren said Nigeria will ask the United States to help train air marshals.
Related stories: U.S. blacklists Nigeria
Al-Qaeda groomed Nigerian terrorist in London
Family of Nigerian bomb suspect issues statement
Messageboard post by Nigerian terrorist shows he was suffering from depression
Animated short 'Planes Immigration Nigerians'
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
WULARI Magistrate Court 5 yesterday ordered 18 suspected members of the Boko Haram sect who allegedly took part in the July 2009 sectarian crisis in Maiduguri to be remanded in prison custody.
The presiding, Chief Magistrate Waziri Mohammed, while in ruling that his court lacked the jurisdiction to listen to the case transferred the case to the Federal High Court was Maiduguri. He ordered that the suspects be kept in prison custody, while the case adjourned to Febuary 21.
The Borno state Police command Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP Isa Azare told newsmen that the suspects were arrested last week at various locations in Maiduguri but declined to comment whether they were carrying weapons.
Earlier, when the case came up for mention, prosecuting counsel from the Borno state Ministry of Justice, Bukar Bundi told the court that the suspects were being arraigned on 10-count charge of criminal conspiracy, inciting disturbance, membership of unlawful assembly and joint assembly armed with deadly weapons.
Other charges, according to the prosecutor, were voluntary causing grievous hurt to deter public servants from their duties, mischief by fire, culpable homicide and treason all contrary to sections 96, 79, 80, 102 and 103, 252 and 221 of the Penal Code and Sections 24, 410 and 415 of Federal Province Act of Northern Nigeria of 1964.
Although the accused persons pleaded not guilty to all the charges, Bundi, however, prayed the court to remand them in prison custody to enable him gather more facts on the case. Counsel to the defendants, Ali Modu did not object to the prayer.
Related stories: Video and transcript of Boko Haram leader Mohammed Yusuf interrogated before his execution
Video report on the widows of Boko Haram militants
Boko Haram declare Total Jihad in Nigeria
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
A seventy -year-old suspected ritualist, Hassan Ajala and four others were paraded, yesterday, at the state headquarters of the Kwara State Police Command in Ilorin following the discovery of a fresh human head in their custody.
The other suspects are Ibrahim Adamu, Afisat Raji, Umaru Kure and Samuel Kure.
At the police headquarters yesterday, the entire parade area was polluted with offensive odour from the human skull, prompting journalists and officers around to cover their noses when the suspects were paraded.
Parading the suspects at the police headquarters, ASP Ezekiel Dabo told journalists that the suspects were arrested by men of the state police detectives at Igbona town in Oyun Local Government Council of the state last Sunday following a tip off.
Related stories: 36 year old man rapes 3 year old girl to cure himself of HIV
Hundreds of students attack male ritualist for male organ of colleague
Video - Return to Nigeria's witch children
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
Three British people and a Colombian working for oil giant Shell have been seized in Nigeria's Delta region.
Kidnappers snatched the four near the city of Port Harcourt, killing a Nigerian guard.
The oil-producing region is notorious for kidnappings by militants, who demand a greater share of its wealth.
But the Delta has been relatively calm since most major militant groups agreed to lay down their arms last year after the government offered an amnesty.
This is the first violent attack on foreigners in the region for many months.
The BBC's Caroline Duffield in Lagos says the amnesty is now drifting in the absence of President Umaru Yar'Adua, who is undergoing medical treatment in Saudi Arabia.
Gunmen snatched the four on Tuesday morning as they made their way to work at a power plant, police say.
Their police escort was shot dead and the driver is also believed to have been shot.
A Shell spokesman in Nigeria confirmed the attack.
"We are concerned for the safety of the contractor staff and our thoughts are with them and their families at this difficult time," he said.
The British Foreign Office said it was looking into the report "as a matter of great urgency".
No group has yet claimed to have kidnapped the group, which took place in Abia state.
Rivers State Police spokeswoman Rita Abbey told the AFP news agency that police had launched a search in and around the town of Aba, some 50km (30 miles) north-east of Port Harcourt.
Militants in the Niger Delta have cost Nigeria's oil industry millions of dollars over the years.
A variety of groups claimed to be fighting for the rights of local people to gain a greater share of the region's wealth.
But in reality, many of the groups stole oil from pipelines and extracted ransoms from kidnaps and used the money to arm themselves and finance more attacks.
Related stories: Kidnapping culture in Nigeria on the rise
American doctor kidnapped in Nigeria sympathizes with his abductors
Nigerian priest kidnaps woman and demands N4m ransom
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
