Monday, April 13, 2015
Video - Nigerian army retakes northern towns from Boko Haram
As Nigeria goes to the polls again, there are still some concerns about the Boko Haram insurgency. While latest reports indicate that the country's military backed by regional troops have ousted Boko Haram fighters from all major towns and forest camps in most of northern Nigeria, there is still evidence that the militants have the power to carry out brutal attacks on civilians.
APC defeats PDP in state polls
The party of Nigeria's incoming president has won a landslide in elections for powerful state governors, ending the former ruling party's dominance.The All Progressives Congress (APC) won 19 of the 29 governor posts in Saturday's elections.
It is the biggest defeat for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) since military ruled ended in 1999.
It lost the presidential poll last month for the first time.
APC leader Muhammadu Buhari will be inaugurated on 29 May, after he defeated President Goodluck Jonathan.
The PDP's decline has been reinforced by results from Saturday's elections for governors and state assemblies, reports the BBC's Bashir Saad Abdullahi from the capital, Abuja.
The party lost for the first time key northern states like Kaduna and Katsina. However, it managed to hold on to Rivers State, Nigeria' s oil hub.
The PDP won nine governorships, while the election in Imo state was declared inconclusive, because the number of spoilt ballot papers was larger than the margin of victory.
Elections were not held in seven states.
Nigeria's 36 governors enjoy wide powers and are extremely influential. Some, especially in oil-producing areas, control bigger budgets than those of national governments in some neighbouring West African countries.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) reported 66 violent incidents at polling stations - higher than in the presidential poll.
Most of the violence took place in Rivers and other southern states, where voting at some polling stations had to be extended.
On Sunday, Inec also announced that the APC had retained power in Lagos state.
It means that when Gen Buhari takes over the presidency it will be the first time that the party of the president has controlled Lagos - the commercial capital - since the advent of multi-party democracy in 1999.
Our correspondent says the PDP will have to go through a period of introspection, and then rebuild itself under a new leader.
The party was in power for 16 years, and voters felt that it was time for change, he says.
It had been hit by the defection of governors and MPs to the APC ahead of the elections.
The PDP also faced widespread allegations of corruption during its rule, and was accused of failing to enough to end an Islamist-led insurgency in the north-east where it suffered huge defeats.
BBC
Sunday, April 12, 2015
Video - Vice News covers the fight against Boko Haram
Since 2009, the militant Islamist group known as Boko Haram has wreaked havoc in northern Nigeria. Instilling terror through bombings, abductions, and beheadings, Boko Haram is fighting to create an Islamic state in the most populous country in Africa.
VICE News traveled to Nigeria to embed with the country's army as it ramped up its fight against Boko Haram, whose rise has caused a state of emergency. As the only journalists on the front line in northern Nigeria, we witnessed the beginning of the largest military insurgency to date.
In part one of a three-part series, VICE News correspondent Kaj Larsen visits the site of a recent Boko Haram attack, interviews refugees and victims of the militant group, and heads to the front lines of the ongoing conflict.
Friday, April 10, 2015
Nigeria's FIFA world ranking drops
Nigeria has dropped from the 41st position to 45th in world football ranking, the April FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking released on Thursday has shown.
This plunge is as a result of the country's team performance in two recent friendly matches played against Uganda and South Africa.
The Super Eagles lost 0-1 to Uganda in Uyo and drew 1-1with South Africa in Nelspruit.
Algeria also dropped from 18th to 21st position, while African champions Cote D'Ivoire plunged from 20 to 23, and Ghana dropped two places to 26.
Tunisia dropped five places to 30th position in the ranking.
Other African teams ranked higher than Nigeria are Senegal (36), Cape Verde Islands (37) and Guinea (41).
The top 10 African countries are Algeria, Cote D'Ivoire, Ghana, Tunisia, Senegal, Cape Verde Islands, Guinea, Nigeria, Cameroon and Congo.
In the ranking, Belgium achieved its highest-ever position in FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking.
Belgium is third in world ranking following two wins in qualifying matches for UEFA EURO 2016.
Belgium is now placed third in the ranking, behind the unchanged leading duo of Germany and Argentina.
Brazil moves up from sixth position to fifth and the Netherlands is occupying sixth position from fifth.
Switzerland is up three positions to 9th and Spain is up one position to 10th.
France and Italy are 11th and 13th, down three steps respectively, while Wales is up 15 positions to 22nd, and Belarus 15 positions from 83rd.
Iraq is now 86th, Azerbaijan 115th, Syria 126th, India 147th, Nicaragua 154th, Gambia 156th and the Cayman Islands 191st.
Most of these teams were victorious in one or more qualifying matches in recent weeks.
Bhutan, who beat Sri Lanka twice in the Asian qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, is now ranked 163rd in the world.
In addition to Belgium and Bhutan, Wales, the Faroe Islands (102nd, up 3) and Timor-Leste have all achieved their highest-ever position since the ranking was introduced in 1993.
A total of 135 international "A" matches have been taken into account for the latest edition of the ranking, while the total number of matches evaluated is 217.
Of the new matches, 25 were qualifiers for EURO 2016, 26 for 2018 World Cup qualifiers (in CONCACAF and AFC) and 84 were friendlies.
Vanguard
This plunge is as a result of the country's team performance in two recent friendly matches played against Uganda and South Africa.
The Super Eagles lost 0-1 to Uganda in Uyo and drew 1-1with South Africa in Nelspruit.
Algeria also dropped from 18th to 21st position, while African champions Cote D'Ivoire plunged from 20 to 23, and Ghana dropped two places to 26.
Tunisia dropped five places to 30th position in the ranking.
Other African teams ranked higher than Nigeria are Senegal (36), Cape Verde Islands (37) and Guinea (41).
The top 10 African countries are Algeria, Cote D'Ivoire, Ghana, Tunisia, Senegal, Cape Verde Islands, Guinea, Nigeria, Cameroon and Congo.
In the ranking, Belgium achieved its highest-ever position in FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking.
Belgium is third in world ranking following two wins in qualifying matches for UEFA EURO 2016.
Belgium is now placed third in the ranking, behind the unchanged leading duo of Germany and Argentina.
Brazil moves up from sixth position to fifth and the Netherlands is occupying sixth position from fifth.
Switzerland is up three positions to 9th and Spain is up one position to 10th.
France and Italy are 11th and 13th, down three steps respectively, while Wales is up 15 positions to 22nd, and Belarus 15 positions from 83rd.
Iraq is now 86th, Azerbaijan 115th, Syria 126th, India 147th, Nicaragua 154th, Gambia 156th and the Cayman Islands 191st.
Most of these teams were victorious in one or more qualifying matches in recent weeks.
Bhutan, who beat Sri Lanka twice in the Asian qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, is now ranked 163rd in the world.
In addition to Belgium and Bhutan, Wales, the Faroe Islands (102nd, up 3) and Timor-Leste have all achieved their highest-ever position since the ranking was introduced in 1993.
A total of 135 international "A" matches have been taken into account for the latest edition of the ranking, while the total number of matches evaluated is 217.
Of the new matches, 25 were qualifiers for EURO 2016, 26 for 2018 World Cup qualifiers (in CONCACAF and AFC) and 84 were friendlies.
Vanguard
UN launches $174 million appeal for refugees of Boko Haram violence
The United Nations launched an appeal on Thursday for $174 million in what it called "life-saving aid" for almost 200,000 Nigerians who have fled the country due to brutal attacks by Boko Haram jihadists.
The insurgents, who are seeking to create an Islamic state in the country's predominantly Muslim north, have killed up to 15,000 people since 2009, according to the UN.
"Displaced people in north-eastern Nigeria and across borders are in a very dramatic situation," Liz Ahua, west Africa representative for the UNHCR, the organisation's refugee agency, said.
"They continue to fear for their lives, and are at this point unable to return to their homes."
Some 192,000 people have fled over Nigeria's borders into Cameroon, Chad and Niger seeking refuge from relentless violence, according to the UNHCR.
*Displaced children scrambling for food at an IDPs camp in Maiduguri... How safe are they?
A further 1.2 million have been displaced within Nigeria as a direct result of the bloodshed, the agency said at the launch of the Nigeria Inter-Agency Regional Refugee Response Plan.
Staff and volunteers in 23 aid organisations and UN agencies say they are struggling to provide shelter, food, education and sanitation for the refugees.
Robert Piper, the UN's humanitarian coordinator for the Sahel region, said more than 7,300 civilians had been killed since the start of 2014 in the three states of the northeast, including 1,000 already this year.
"Gross violations of human rights, including sexual violence and child trafficking, are frequently reported. Education and health infrastructure has been decimated.
"The majority of victims have found makeshift shelters in schools, with their neighbours and relatives... They have lost everything -- their homes, their livelihoods, their families."
The UNHCR showed a video of refugees in Minawao camp, Cameroon, featuring a boy called Ibrahim, whose village in Nigeria's Borno state was over-run by dozens of heavily-armed Boko Haram fighters.
The 10-year-old recounts watching in terror as the Islamists cut his father's throat before turning on him with a machete and burying him alive.
"When I heard the gunshots I was afraid and my father told me to run. When they saw us, they shot him and he fell down," says Ibrahim.
"They killed my father. I was crying, and they brought out their machetes and cut me on the head."
Assuming he was dead, the insurgents threw Ibrahim into a pit which they filled with sand. He remained buried for two days, petrified but able to breathe, before he was rescued by his 13-year-old sister.
Largely peaceful presidential elections on March 28 saw Goodluck Jonathan lose to challenger Muhammadu Buhari in Nigeria's first ever democratic transfer of power.
But security fears remain high ahead of this weekend's regional elections.
Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon last month launched an unprecedented joint campaign against Boko Haram after the militants widened their offensive with attacks in the neighbouring countries.
Chadian President Idriss Deby vowed on Wednesday to "wipe out" the organisation and called on its commander Abubakar Shekau to give himself up, warning that he knew where the militant leader was hiding.
The UN is in talks to set up a multi-national force with African Union backing to defeat Boko Haram, which is estimated to have around 20,000 fighters.
"It is clearly going to be a mission with a strong anti-terror mandate. It will have an aggressive mandate (and) rules of engagement to combat Boko Haram," Piper told reporters.
He said his office was pressing the Security Council to take "every possible precaution to minimise the impact of its operation on civilians".
He added that he was urging the council to keep the combat force separate from other activities to protect the integrity and impartiality of the humanitarian mission.
Vanguard
The insurgents, who are seeking to create an Islamic state in the country's predominantly Muslim north, have killed up to 15,000 people since 2009, according to the UN.
"Displaced people in north-eastern Nigeria and across borders are in a very dramatic situation," Liz Ahua, west Africa representative for the UNHCR, the organisation's refugee agency, said.
"They continue to fear for their lives, and are at this point unable to return to their homes."
Some 192,000 people have fled over Nigeria's borders into Cameroon, Chad and Niger seeking refuge from relentless violence, according to the UNHCR.
*Displaced children scrambling for food at an IDPs camp in Maiduguri... How safe are they?
A further 1.2 million have been displaced within Nigeria as a direct result of the bloodshed, the agency said at the launch of the Nigeria Inter-Agency Regional Refugee Response Plan.
Staff and volunteers in 23 aid organisations and UN agencies say they are struggling to provide shelter, food, education and sanitation for the refugees.
Robert Piper, the UN's humanitarian coordinator for the Sahel region, said more than 7,300 civilians had been killed since the start of 2014 in the three states of the northeast, including 1,000 already this year.
"Gross violations of human rights, including sexual violence and child trafficking, are frequently reported. Education and health infrastructure has been decimated.
"The majority of victims have found makeshift shelters in schools, with their neighbours and relatives... They have lost everything -- their homes, their livelihoods, their families."
The UNHCR showed a video of refugees in Minawao camp, Cameroon, featuring a boy called Ibrahim, whose village in Nigeria's Borno state was over-run by dozens of heavily-armed Boko Haram fighters.
The 10-year-old recounts watching in terror as the Islamists cut his father's throat before turning on him with a machete and burying him alive.
"When I heard the gunshots I was afraid and my father told me to run. When they saw us, they shot him and he fell down," says Ibrahim.
"They killed my father. I was crying, and they brought out their machetes and cut me on the head."
Assuming he was dead, the insurgents threw Ibrahim into a pit which they filled with sand. He remained buried for two days, petrified but able to breathe, before he was rescued by his 13-year-old sister.
Largely peaceful presidential elections on March 28 saw Goodluck Jonathan lose to challenger Muhammadu Buhari in Nigeria's first ever democratic transfer of power.
But security fears remain high ahead of this weekend's regional elections.
Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon last month launched an unprecedented joint campaign against Boko Haram after the militants widened their offensive with attacks in the neighbouring countries.
Chadian President Idriss Deby vowed on Wednesday to "wipe out" the organisation and called on its commander Abubakar Shekau to give himself up, warning that he knew where the militant leader was hiding.
The UN is in talks to set up a multi-national force with African Union backing to defeat Boko Haram, which is estimated to have around 20,000 fighters.
"It is clearly going to be a mission with a strong anti-terror mandate. It will have an aggressive mandate (and) rules of engagement to combat Boko Haram," Piper told reporters.
He said his office was pressing the Security Council to take "every possible precaution to minimise the impact of its operation on civilians".
He added that he was urging the council to keep the combat force separate from other activities to protect the integrity and impartiality of the humanitarian mission.
Vanguard
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