Alleged Rape: South Africa deports popular Nigerian pastor, imposes five-year ban

The South African government has deported Timothy Omotoso, a Nigerian televangelist and senior pastor of Jesus Dominion International (JDI), based in Durban.

The 66-year-old was arrested by South Africa’s priority crimes unit, the Hawks, on 20 April 2017 at Port Elizabeth International Airport. He was accused of heinous crimes, including rape, racketeering, and human trafficking, allegations that shook the nation.

He was tried for eight years but was acquitted of all 32 charges on 2 April and subsequently released from prison.

According to a Sunday report by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), Mr Omotoso agreed to be deported following his re-arrest by immigration authorities in East London (a city on the southeastern coast of South Africa) on 10 May.

Dressed in a grey hooded jacket, black track pants, and sunglasses, the pastor boarded a 3:10 p.m. flight to Lagos.

The founder of the 24-hour satellite TV station Ancient of Days Broadcasting Network (ADBN) arrived at O.R. Tambo International Airport just midday on a flight from King Shaka International Airport in Durban.

The author of ‘How to Enjoy Health and Wealth and Longevity’ was escorted by police from the domestic arrivals terminal to the international departures terminal, where he waited to board his flight.

Furthermore, South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs confirmed that Mr Omotoso will be barred from re-entering the country for five years.

Mr Omotoso was expected to arrive in Lagos at 8:30 p.m. on Sunday.

As of press time, it remained unconfirmed whether the pastor had arrived in Nigeria.

Backstory

In an April 2025 report, the BBC revealed that a witness who testified in court in 2018 alleged that Mr Omotoso raped her when she was just 14 years old.

However, the Eastern Cape High Court ruled Mr Omotoso not guilty, citing serious procedural failings by the prosecution.

South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) admitted that former prosecutors mishandled the case and failed to cross-examine the defendants adequately.

The NPA also stated it was reviewing its legal options, adding that the prolonged trial duration was partly due to numerous legal applications filed by Mr Omotoso.

His co-accused, Lusanda Sulani and Zikiswa Sitho, were also acquitted of all charges.

Mr Omotoso’s case became South Africa’s first high-profile rape trial to be televised live, in a country grappling with endemic sexual violence.

The proceedings, which drew widespread public attention, sparked a national debate over victims’ rights, judicial impartiality, and the role of televised court cases in serving or hindering justice, engaging the public in these crucial issues.

By Friday Omosola, Premium Times

Militant attack on 2 villages in northeast Nigeria kills at least 57, witnesses say

A suspected militant attack on two villages in Nigeria left at least 57 people dead and at least 70 missing on Thursday, witnesses said Sunday, in one of the deadliest incidents in the country’s conflict-ridden northeast this year.

Abdulrahman Ibrahim survived Thursday’s attack on two villages in Baga in Borno State and participated in the burial of the dead. He told The Associated Press that the Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad (JAS) faction of the militant group Boko Haram gathered more than 100 residents of the neighboring villages of Mallam Karamti and Kwatandashi and marched them into the bush. Later on Saturday, 57 bodies were recovered there.

A spokesperson for the Borno government said he could not confirm the casualty counts. The Nigerian military did not respond to a request for comment.

According to Ibrahim, who is from Mallam Karamti, and another survivor from Kwatandashi who requested anonymity for fear of reprisals, the villagers were accused of acting as informants for the rival Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). Although ISWAP has gained notoriety for targeting military personnel and assets, the JAS faction has increasingly resorted to attacking civilians and perceived collaborators and thrives on robberies and abductions for ransom.

“Without the capacity to attack the military like ISWAP, JAS is focused on terrorizing civilians,” said Malik Samuel, an expert on northern Nigeria’s conflicts with nonprofit Good Governance Africa.

The witnesses said burial of the victims was delayed because the military was unavailable to provide support in conducting searches for bodies. Most of the dead victims were found with their throats slit, but others had been shot, the locals said.

“There are probably more bodies because we had to stop further searches with soldiers out of fear of an ambush,” Ibrahim said. More than 70 are still missing, he said.

The mass killing came during a week of intensifying violence in Borno. On Monday, ISWAP militants overran the 50 Task Force Battalion of the Nigerian Army stationed in Marte, seizing arms and ammunition after a deadly assault that killed several soldiers, according to videos shared on social media by soldiers who survived the attack.

Following the attack on Marte, displaced people camped there fled to nearby Dikwa, a humanitarian hub where aid groups are pulling out due to international funding cuts.

In a separate incident on Saturday afternoon, a roadside bomb detonated along the Maiduguri-Damboa road, the second such attack in a week. Three people died at the scene, and a fourth succumbed to injuries Sunday morning at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH). More than 10 others were still being treated for injuries at the hospital, a local resident, Lawan Bukar Maigana, who has assisted the community in emergencies, said.

Since 2009, the Boko Haram insurgency has created a humanitarian disaster in Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad, with more than 35,000 people killed and 2.6 million others displaced over the last 15 years. Borno in Nigeria, its birthplace, is the worst-affected.

They want to install an Islamic state across the four countries, with Nigeria as their main target. The country is West Africa’s oil giant with more than 200 million people, divided almost equally between a mainly Christian south and a predominantly Muslim north.

The Nigerian government has claimed progress against the insurgency, but the militants continue to attack civilians and military and have expanded into other regions, including central Nigeria where the capital Abuja is located, according to experts and public records on counterterrorism.

By Taiwo Adebayo, AP

World’s largest electric vehicle-producing country set to establish an EV plant in Nigeria

The initiative is a huge step forward for Nigeria's industrialization aspirations and reinforces Beijing's expanding presence in Nigeria, in a year when the East Asian country has been very active within Africa’s largest oil-producing country.

This new development was made known during a courtesy visit by China's Ambassador to Nigeria, Yu Dunhai, to Dr. Dele Alake, Minister of Solid Minerals Development.

During the visit, Ambassador Dunhai underlined the need for further collaboration between the two countries in unleashing Nigeria's solid minerals potential, a crucial component in EV battery production, and propelling Nigeria's industrial growth.

Dunhai also stated that China has always recognized Nigeria as an important partner in its foreign strategy.

The Chinese ambassador mentioned the recent meeting between Presidents Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Xi Jinping, during which both leaders decided to upgrade Nigeria-China bilateral relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership, paving the way for considerable economic and technical collaboration.

Dr. Alake, in response noted that the Federal Government has granted authority for China to develop electric car manufacturing factories in Nigeria, as he emphsized the idea that Nigeria is open for business.

He asked that the ambassador persuade Chinese businesses to make full-cycle investments in Nigeria, from extraction to processing, as reported by the Punch.

“For years, our minerals have been exported raw to fuel foreign industrialisation. That must change, Dr. Alake stated.

“We now prioritise local processing to drive Nigeria’s development. For instance, with the abundance of lithium, we want to see local manufacturing of electric vehicles and batteries,” he added.

“Plans are underway to establish electric vehicle factories and other manufacturing ventures in Nigeria.

Chinese companies are already deeply involved in Nigeria’s mining sector, from exploration to processing,” Dr. Alake continued.

“We aim to deepen this collaboration, especially in line with President Tinubu’s eight priority areas, notably economic diversification through solid minerals,” he added.

Deals between China and Nigeria in 2025 so far

The EV announcement follows a flood of Chinese investments and strategic engagement with Nigeria so far in 2025.

In April, the National Sugar Development Council (NSDC) inked a $1 billion agreement with Chinese company SINOMACH to build a large-scale sugarcane production and processing facility.

Mr. Kamar Bakrin, NSDC Executive Secretary, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the investment will alter Nigeria's sugar sector and strengthen China's strategic footprint in the nation.

216 Chinese businesses traveled to Nigeria in March to look for potential investment opportunities. Interestingly, 74 of them specifically indicated interest in Nigeria's oil industry, indicating China's intention to diversify its holdings in the nation's important sectors.

A new shipping route that provides an exceptional 27-day transit time between Shanghai and Lagos began in February when the MV Great Cotonou, a Con-Ro vessel from China, arrived at the PTML facility in Lagos, West Africa's largest multipurpose RO/RO facility.

It is anticipated that this innovation would transform the logistics of regional trade.

In January, the China Development Bank approved a $254.76 million loan for a major railway project in Nigeria, expanding the country's railway modernization program as part of China's Belt and Road Initiative.

By Chinedu Okafor, Business Insider Africa

Shell paid more taxes to Nigeria than anywhere else in 2024

Shell paid $5.34 billion to Nigeria in 2024, the highest amount it paid to any country that year. The payments, which include taxes and other charges, rose compared to the previous year, according to figures released Thursday as part of a UK legal disclosure.

The increase comes as Shell prepares to exit its onshore oil operations in Nigeria after decades marked by controversy.

While the company will continue its offshore production in Nigeria, it is withdrawing from the Niger Delta, a region known for high emissions and persistent environmental pollution concerns.

Since 2021, the company has been seeking to sell its Nigerian oil and gas assets, which have faced ongoing challenges such as oil spills and theft.

Shell says the move aligns with its broader strategy to streamline its portfolio and reach net-zero emissions by 2050, Bloomberg reported.

Global tax contributions

Shell paid approximately $28.1 billion to governments worldwide in 2024 for taxes and other charges linked to its extractive operations, a nearly 5% drop from the previous year.

Nigeria remained the top recipient, followed by Oman, Brazil, and Norway, which collectively received around $11.7 billion.


In the UK, Shell received a $32 million refund from the government for decommissioning costs tied to the Brent field and other North Sea assets, a decrease from the $43 million refunded in 2023.


However, this figure only reflects charges related to extractive activities and does not capture Shell’s total UK tax bill. The company’s last disclosed payment to the UK government was approximately $6 billion in 2023, as reported at the end of 2024.


Despite the decline in payments, Shell reported full-year adjusted earnings of $23.7 billion in 2024, down roughly 17% from the previous year.

By Adekunle Agbetiloye, Business Insider Africa

Children die as USAID aid cuts snap a lifeline for the world’s most malnourished

Under the dappled light of a thatched shelter, Yagana Bulama cradles her surviving infant. The other twin is gone, a casualty of malnutrition and the international funding cuts that are snapping the lifeline for displaced communities in Nigeria’s insurgency-ravaged Borno state.

“Feeding is severely difficult,” said Bulama, 40, who was a farmer before Boko Haram militants swept through her village, forcing her to flee. She and about 400,000 other people at the humanitarian hub of Dikwa — virtually the entire population — rely on assistance. The military restricts their movements to a designated “safe zone,” which severely limits farming.

For years, the United States Agency for International Development had been the backbone of the humanitarian response in northeastern Nigeria, helping non-government organizations provide food, shelter and healthcare to millions of people. But this year, the Trump administration cut more than 90% of USAID’s foreign aid contracts and $60 billion in overall assistance around the world.

Programs serving children were hit hard.

Bulama previously lost young triplets to hunger before reaching therapeutic feeding centers in Dikwa. When she gave birth to twins last August, both were severely underweight. Workers from Mercy Corps enrolled them in a program to receive a calorie-dense paste used to treat severe acute malnutrition.

But in February, Mercy Corps abruptly ended the program that was entirely financed by USAID. Two weeks later, one of the twins died, Bulama said.

She has no more tears, only dread for what may come next.

“I don’t want to bury another child,” she said.

‘Very traumatic’

Globally, 50% of the therapeutic foods for treating malnutrition in children were funded by USAID, and 40% of the supplies were produced in the U.S., according to Shawn Baker, chief program officer at Helen Keller Intl and former chief nutritionist at USAID.

He said the consequence could be 1 million children not receiving treatment for severe malnutrition, resulting in 163,500 additional deaths per year. For Helen Keller Intl, its programs in Bangladesh, Nepal and Nigeria have been terminated.

“It is very traumatic,” said Trond Jensen, the head of the United Nations humanitarian office in Maiduguri, Borno’s capital, of the funding cuts, noting that other donors, including the European Union, have taken similar steps this year. “One of the things is the threat to the lives of children.”

UNICEF still runs a therapeutic feeding center nearby, which now supports Bulama’s surviving baby, but its capacity is stretched. It is turning away many people previously served by other aid groups that have pulled out due to funding cuts.

Intersos, an Italian humanitarian organization, has the only remaining facility providing in-patient services for malnutrition in Dikwa, treating the most perilous cases. Its workers say they are overwhelmed, with at least 10 new admissions of seriously malnourished children daily.

“Before the USAID cut, we made a lot of progress,” said Ayuba Kauji, a health and nutrition supervisor. “Now my biggest worry is high mortality. We don’t have enough resources to keep up.”


Intersos was forced to reduce its staff from 30 to 11 in Dikwa after the USAID freeze. Its nutrition and health facilities now operate solely on support from the Nigerian Humanitarian Fund, a smaller pot of money contributed by a few European countries. That funding will be finished in June.

The crisis is equally acute in Maiduguri, where the economy is reeling from massive terminations of aid workers. At another Intersos-run facility, 10 of the 12 doctors have left and four nurses remain, with 50 new admissions of malnourished children per week.

“It used to be far less,” said Emmanuel Ali, one of the remaining doctors.

Beyond nutrition

The effects of the funding cuts extend far beyond nutrition. At the International Organization for Migration’s reception center in Dikwa, thousands of displaced families and those escaping Boko Haram captivity are stranded. There are no new shelters being built and no support for relocation.

“Before, organizations like Mercy Corps built mud-brick homes and rehabilitated damaged shelters to absorb people from the IOM reception center,” said one official at the center, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the situation. “Now, that has stopped.”

Jensen, the U.N. humanitarian head in Maiduguri, said, “sadly, we are not seeing additional funding to make up for the U.S. cuts.” He warned that vulnerable people could turn to risky ways of coping, including joining violent groups.

A global problem

The crisis in Nigeria is part of a larger reckoning. According to Kate Phillips-Barrasso, Mercy Corps’ vice president for policy and advocacy, 40 of its 62 U.S.-funded programs with the potential to reach 3.5 million people in Nigeria, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Somalia, Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan, Kenya, Lebanon and Gaza have been terminated.

In Mozambique, where jihadist violence in the north has displaced over a million people since 2017, humanitarian organizations face steep shortfalls with “devastating” effects on the needy, said Frederico João, chairman of the forum of NGOs in the region.

More widely, the USAID funding cut compromises Mozambique’s health sector, especially in HIV/AIDS care, said Inocêncio Impissa, cabinet spokesman. The government now seeks alternative funding to prevent total collapse of health systems.

Charles Mangwiro in Maputo, Mozambique, contributed to this story.

By Taiwo Adebayo, AP

Related story: Nigeria has a food security problem as water for crops is harder to find