The board of Nigeria's Prisons Service is dismissing 23 officers from two prisons for allegedly colluding in jailbreaks.
Prisons Service spokesman Francis Enobore says the board also is suspending 11 officers while it investigates escapes from a third prison.
Jailbreaks are common in Nigeria, where prison guards are easily bribed. A new controller-general of prisons has promised to halt that.
Enobore said those dismissed include three senior officers at Kuje medium-security prison in Lagos, which houses many high-profile suspects in corruption cases being pursued by President Muhammadu Buhari's government. The jailbreak in June involved two men accused of kidnapping, raping and killing a woman.
In July, 13 inmates escaped from Koton Karfe prison in central Kogi state. Six have been hunted down and returned to prison.
The Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate group has vowed to blow up more oil installations, if the government does not meet its demand for inclusion in negotiations with other militant groups. The new group has claimed responsibility for the latest attack on an oil pipeline in the region. It wants to be included in talks with the government.
Nigeria earned their first win at the 2016 Olympic Basketball Tournament by pulling off the biggest upset to date in the competition with a 90-76 defeat of Croatia. Nigeria trailed by seven after the first quarter, but led by14 after the third quarter and held on for the win in its fourth of five preliminary round games as the African champions improved to 1-3 to keep alive their hopes of advancing to the Quarter-Finals.
The Ministry of Youth and Sports has refunded to Captain John Obi Mikel the $4,600 he paid for the team in São Paulo on their way to Salvador, a press statement from Nigeria Football Federation media officer, Ademola Olajire, said.
Mikel was said to have spent the money on the welfare of the football team.
Excited about the qualification of the Nigeria U23 team for the semifinals of the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament Rio 2016, the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports has again assured players and officials of the team that they will be given all that is due to them.
Addressing the players and officials after the 2-0 defeat of Denmark in Saturday’s quarter final match in Salvador, the Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung, represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Chinyeaka Ohaa, said they are happy for the result.
I am happy to be a Nigerian, because in spite of all the challenges, you have taken the world by storm; you have by your performance given happiness to more than 160 million Nigerians. Football is the biggest unifying factor in Nigeria today. From Mr. President to the average Nigerian you have made everyone proud today.
"I am humbled by your efforts, your commitment, your patriotism. I want to assure you that your sacrifices will not be in vain. Aside whatever the NFF have for you, we will as much as possible make you happy, if only you will be patient with us. Today, with your performance, I am convinced that you will get that gold.”
Responding, Captain Mikel Obi said: "We want to thank you for your fatherly support. In truth, there have been a lot of challenges, but every time we go onto the field, we forget about everything and make sure our fatherland comes first. We have done that so far and we will continue to do that, but we need more motivation."
News24 reported that President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday night praised the indomitable spirit of the Nigerian soccer team to the ongoing Rio Olympics, which saw them flying over Denmark 2-0 to qualify for the semi-finals.
The mother of one of the Chibok girls kidnapped more than two years ago by Nigeria's Islamic extremists on Sunday saw the first proof her daughter is alive - a video of her begging Nigeria's government to exchange detained militants for the girls' freedom.
Chibok community leader Pogu Bitrus to The Associated Press the video was being watched at the weekly rally of the Bring Back Our Girls campaign at Unity Fountain in Abuja, the capital.
Some of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls have been killed by Nigerian military airstrikes, according to a new video from Boko Haram, which shows one kidnap victim pleading for authorities to bow to the extremists' demands that they release detained militants in return for the girls.
The video posted Sunday on Twitter shows a young woman, covered in a hijab with just her face showing, who was one of the students abducted from a remote school in northeastern Nigeria in April 2014. She claims that some of her kidnapped classmates died in aerial bombardments by the Nigerian Air Force. She also said that 40 have been "married" to fighters.
The video shows a militant warning in the Hausa language that if President Muhammadu Buhari's government battles Boko Haram with firepower, the girls won't be seen again.
"Presently, some of the girls are crippled, some are terribly sick and some of them, as I had said, died during bombardment by the Nigerian military," the fighter says, appearing before a group of more than 40 young women in hijabs, some holding babies.
"If our members in detention are not freed, let the government and parents of the Chibok girls know that they will never find these girls again," he said.
The video, cited by the SITE Intelligence Group, was posted by Ahmad Salkida, a Nigerian journalist known to have good contacts in Boko Haram. Salkida says he was given the video by associates of Abubakar Shekau, who is in a leadership battle with a lieutenant named by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) as the new leader of what it calls its West Africa Province.
The mass abduction brought Boko Haram to the world's attention and even got the participation of U.S. first lady Michelle Obama in the #BringBackOurGirls social media campaign, promising her husband would do all in his power to help liberate them.
The government came under increased pressure from parents and Bring Back Our Girls campaigners after the May escape of one young woman, a proof of life that they said should encourage the military and government to redouble rescue efforts. The escapee said some of the girls had died but scores remained in captivity under heavy guard.
Sunday's video is another proof of life.
"The girl in the video spoke in the Chibok language and identified her mother by name. Her mother has now seen the video and identified her daughter," Chibok leader Pogu Bitrus told the AP.
The young woman in the video, probably speaking under duress, begs for help.
"Oh you, my people and our parents, you just have to please come to our rescue: We are suffering here, the aircraft have come to bombard us and killed many of us. Some are wounded. Every day we are in pains and suffering, so are our babies ... No one cares for us.
"Please go and beg the government of Nigeria to release the members of our abductors so that they too can free us to let us come home."
The video goes on to show bodies from an alleged air raid, including that of a girl whose eyes flicker open briefly.
Nigeria's Air Force has reported near-daily bombardments of Boko Haram camps and the military of increased ground assaults in which they have freed thousands of captives, though none of the Chibok girls.
Boko Haram has been forced out of most towns and has turned to assaulting remote villages and using suicide bombers to attack soft targets such as mosques and marketplaces.
More than 20,000 people have been killed in the 7-year-old Islamic uprising that has spread from Nigeria to neighboring countries and driven 2.2 million people from their homes.
Aid workers say there is a catastrophic humanitarian crisis in newly freed but still dangerous areas where half a million people are starving and babies dying daily. There has also been a resurgence of polio in areas that had been under Boko Haram's control.
