Nigeria is facing a severe agricultural crisis as the "Tomato Ebola" pest, the Tuta absoluta, devastates key tomato-producing regions, causing massive losses estimated at over $800,000. As a result, both tomato traders and consumers are feeling the financial strain, with prices soaring and the nation's annual tomato supply falling short of demand.
Monday, May 19, 2025
Video - ‘Tomato Ebola’ ravages Nigeria’s farms
Nigeria is facing a severe agricultural crisis as the "Tomato Ebola" pest, the Tuta absoluta, devastates key tomato-producing regions, causing massive losses estimated at over $800,000. As a result, both tomato traders and consumers are feeling the financial strain, with prices soaring and the nation's annual tomato supply falling short of demand.
Video - Aid cuts deepen malnutrition crisis in northeast Nigeria
Foreign aid reductions are severely impacting humanitarian operations in northeastern Nigeria. Key NGOs, including Mercy Corps, shut down nutrition programs, leaving mothers without critical support for malnourished children.
Video - Nigerian military chief vows troop support as insurgent attacks rise
Nigeria’s top military commander, General Christopher Musa, pledged full support to troops battling a rise in insurgent violence, particularly in Borno State. This follows a deadly April attack where over 100 civilians were killed and multiple military bases were attacked. The army chief pledged new leadership, fresh equipment, and possible border fortifications as part of renewed efforts to restore security.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)