Suicide bombers attack mosque in Maiduguri, Nigeria - 22 confirmed dead

Two female suicide bombers have attacked a mosque in the north-eastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, killing 22 worshippers, the army says.

The first bomber struck inside the mosque, while the second blew herself up outside as survivors tried to flee, eye witnesses told the BBC.

Eighteen other people were wounded in the attack, the army added.

Maiduguri is the birthplace of Islamist group Boko Haram's insurgency which has killed 20,000 people since 2009.

"We were just a few metres away from the mosque when a loud bang erupted and all we could see was dark smoke and bodies littered around,'' another witness told Associated Press news agency.

The attack took place a few minutes after worshippers started an early morning prayer, the chief imam of Umarari mosque on the outskirts of the city told the BBC Hausa service.

"My hearing was affected by the blast. I can't hear well at the moment," he added.

A statement from Nigeria's army says all the wounded have been taken to a hospital in a nearby town.

Last year, a regional military offensive helped drive out Boko Haram from most of the areas it had seized in north-eastern Nigeria.

However, the group, which is linked to the so-called Islamic State, has continued to carry out suicide attacks in northern Nigeria and neighbouring Cameroon.


BBC

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Nigeria's former top military Chief is struggling to meet a tough bail condition granted him last week. A federal judge last week ordered Alex Badeh to be remanded in prison custody until he is able to meet a 10 million dollar bail bond before he can regain temporary freedom. He is standing trial for allegedly stealing around 20 million dollars while he was head of the Nigerian military. Badeh is only one of several senior serving and former military officers being accused of diverting money meant for the purchase of arms to fight Boko haram. 

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NNPC did not pay Nigeria government $16bn in oil revenue

Nigeria's state-owned oil company has failed to pay the government $16bn (£11bn) in a suspected fraud, according to an official audit.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) provided no explanation for the missing funds, the auditor general told MPs.

Oil revenue accounts for two-thirds of the government's funding.

President Muhammadu Buhari has promised to crack down on corruption since coming to office last May.

The NNPC has not commented on the auditor general's findings.

The state oil giant has been mired in corruption allegations and losing money for many years.

Last month, the government announced that the NNPC would be broken up into seven different companies.

Nigeria's former central bank governor Lamido Sanusi, now the Emir of Kano, was dismissed by the previous administration after saying that $20bn (£12bn) in oil revenue had gone missing in 2013.

A separate audit ordered under former President Goodluck Jonathan and carried out by global accountancy firm PwC, found that the NNPC had failed to pay the government $1.48bn between January 2012 and July 2013.

It did not provide a total figure for how much revenue the NNPC should legally have handed over to the treasury.

However, the company said that it could not vouch for the integrity of the information it was given when it conducted the audit.

Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil producer, but the economy has suffered because of the fall in the price of oil.


BBC

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