Nigeria's Tinubu picks Muslim senator as presidential running mate

Nigeria's presidential frontrunner Bola Tinubu on Sunday picked as his running mate a sitting Muslim senator and former governor of northeastern Borno state, the heartland of an Islamist insurgency that has killed and displaced thousands of people.

The move by Tinubu, who is also Muslim, breaks with past practice where presidential candidates from major political parties have chosen running mates from a different religion in a bid to foster unity in the country.

Tinubu, 70, was last month elected as the ruling All Progressives Congress party's candidate to succeed incumbent Muhammadu Buhari, who will step down next year after completing two terms.

A Yoruba Muslim from southwestern Nigeria, Tinubu told reporters after meeting Buhari in northern Katsina state that he had chosen Kashim Shettima, 55, to be his presidential running mate.

By picking Shettima, Tinubu may also be looking for a deputy broadly acceptable to powerbrokers in the north, which is a large voting block.

"He is competent, capable, reliable and able," Tinubu said.

Atiku Abubakar, the main opposition candidate and Tinubu's main rival, is a northern Muslim who has picked a Christian running mate from the south.

Since the end of military rule in 1999, Nigeria has followed an unwritten rule where power is shared between the largely Muslim north and mainly Christian south.

Growing insecurity will be a major election issue next year. A decade-long Islamist insurgency and attacks and kidnappings for ransom by armed gangs mostly in the northwest are some of the major security challenges.

During Shettima's 2011-2019 governorship, Borno state grabbed global headlines when Boko Haram militants abducted more than 200 schoolgirls in Chibok community in April 2014.

Shettima was among those who supported the release of low-risk detainees caught up in the government's fight against insurgents, as a good-will gesture.

By MacDonald Dzirutwe

Reuters

Nigeria recaptures 27 inmates after jail attack claimed by Islamic State

Nigeria's security forces on Thursday recaptured 27 inmates who fled from a prison in the capital in Abuja following an attack claimed by Islamic State, the correctional service said.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for Tuesday's raid on the Kuje prison, which freed around 440 inmates, among them Islamist militants, raising fears that insurgents are venturing from their enclaves in the northeast.

Three of the attackers were killed in the encounter while several others escaped with bullet wounds, a Nigerian Correctional Service spokesperson said in a statement.

The prison attack has raised questions on the security of Nigeria's correctional facilities, especially those holding suspected militants.

Reuters

Related story: Jihadis Attack Jail in Nigeria's Capital, 600 Inmates Escape

Jihadis Attack Jail in Nigeria's Capital, 600 Inmates Escape

At least 600 inmates escaped in a jailbreak in Nigeria's capital city, officials said Wednesday, blaming the attack on Islamic extremist rebels.

About 300 have been recaptured, authorities said.

The “very determined” rebels attacked the Kuje maximum prison in Abuja on Tuesday night with “very high-grade explosives,” killing one guard on duty, according to Shuaib Belgore, permanent secretary of Nigeria's Ministry of Interior.

Explosions and gunfire were heard at about 10 p.m. in the Kuje area of Abuja when the attackers arrived and forced their way into the prison through a hole created by the explosives.

The Islamic extremist rebels who attacked the prison have waged an insurgency in the country’s northeast for over a decade. Their attack on the detention facility freed many of their members who are inmates, prison officials said.


“We understand they are Boko Haram. They came specifically for their co-conspirators,” said Belgore. “Right now, we have retrieved about 300 out of about 600 that got out of the jail."

Nigeria's jihadi rebels have carried out several jailbreaks in the country's northeast in recent years, but this is the first in the capital city.

Nigeria's extremist insurgency, carried out by Boko Haram and an offshoot known as the Islamic State Central African Province, is blamed for violence that has caused the deaths of more than 35,000 people and displaced more than 2 million people, according to the U.N. The prolonged instability, hunger and lack of health services caused by the insurgency have indirectly caused the deaths of more than 300,000 additional people, says the U.N.

The extremists' violence is the most serious security challenge in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country with 206 million people, which also is battling violence in the northwest area by rebellious herdsmen and a separatist movement in the country's south.

By Chinedu Asadu

AP

Nigeria's Barkindo, who led OPEC in turbulent times, dies at 63

The secretary general of oil producers group OPEC, Mohammad Barkindo, has died, the boss of Nigerian National Petroleum Corp (NNPC) announced on Wednesday.

Barkindo, 63, a veteran of the oil industry, was due to step down at the end of this month after six years in the top job at the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

"We lost our esteemed Dr Muhammad Sanusi Barkindo," NNPC CEO Mele Kyari wrote on Twitter, adding that he died late on Tuesday.

The death is a "great loss to his immediate family, the NNPC, our country Nigeria, the OPEC and the global energy community," Kyari added.

Kyari said Barkindo died hours after meeting Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and giving the main speech at an energy summit in Abuja.

His tenure as the head of OPEC has been marked by global shocks that have battered the industry.

During his keynote speech in Abuja hours before his death, Barkindo said the oil and gas industry is "under siege" and still reeling from the enormous investment losses of recent years.

"In a very short timespan, the industry has been hit by two major cycles – the severe market downturn in 2015 and 2016, and the even more far-reaching impact of the COVID-19 pandemic," Barkindo said.

Barkindo's career in the oil industry began in Nigeria in the early 1980s. He served in various capacities at the NNPC and represented Nigeria on OPEC's Economic Commission Board.

He was acting OPEC secretary general in 2006 before returning to the position 10 years later and has led the organisation through a turbulent oil market period including steering it towards greater cooperation with non-OPEC oil producers.

"Serving as Secretary General of OPEC for two terms has been the honour of a lifetime. Over the past six years, we have witnessed both challenging and historic moments, which have underscored time and again the importance of cooperation and teamwork," Barkindo said in his keynote speech on Tuesday.

Diamantino Azevedo, oil minister for OPEC member Angola, told Reuters that Barkindo was always striving to seek consensus for the good of the organisation.

After leaving OPEC, Barkindo was due to join U.S. think tank the Atlantic Council's Global Energy Center as a distinguished fellow, the Council recently announced.

"This tragedy is a shock to the OPEC Family. We express our sorrow and deep gratitude for the over 40 years of selfless service that Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo gave to OPEC. His dedication and leadership will inspire OPEC for many years to come," the OPEC Secretariat said in a Tweet.

By Macdonald Dzirutwe

Reuters

Video - Discarded tyre recycling in Nigeria

Waste management is still one of the biggest concerns in Nigeria. Ifedolapo Runsewe, a banker turned recycler started the Free recycling company and has already recycled nearly 100,000 tyres into eco-friendly interlocking pavers, tiles, and other rubber products.