Video - President Buhari to run in 2019 elections

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari will be seeking a second term in office in elections due next year, his office has said.

It ends months of speculation about whether the 75-year-old leader plans to run for re-election.

His first term has been beset by poor health, which saw him spend months in the UK last year receiving treatment.

Mr Buhari defeated former President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 election.

He was the first opposition leader to defeat an incumbent in Nigeria.

The announcement comes as he is due to travel to the UK on an official visit.

He is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Theresa May and attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, which starts on 16 April.

Mr Buhari was on "medical leave" in the UK for three months early last year.

He revealed after his return to Nigeria that "I have never been so sick", but did not disclose what he was suffering from.

Mr Buhari will run under the banner of the ruling All Progressives Congress. The main opposition People's Democratic Party is yet to announce its candidate.

He has been under fire from former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who in an open letter called on him not to seek re-election because of his age and alleged poor health.

Mr Obasanjo added that he was disappointed with Mr Buhari, particularly because of what he called his poor handling of Nigeria's economy, the largest in Africa.

Mr Buhari's spokesman said the president accepted the criticism in good faith, but it should be noted that significant progress had been made under his rule in tackling Nigeria's problems.

The administration points to its fight against corruption and its military operations against Islamist militant group Boko Haram, which it says has "degraded" the group.

BBC

Armed gang robs 3 banks, attacks police station in Nigeria

A a string of bank robberies has left an estimated 20 people dead. A group of men robbed three banks and raided a police station. The assault took place in the remote town of Offa in central Nigeria. The men entered the busy commercial area, armed with assault rifles. According to officials, the men attacked the police station first. 8 police officers were reportedly killed. The men then went on to rob surrounding banks, before escaping on stolen motor bikes.

149 women and children rescued from Boko Haram in Nigeria

The Nigerian military says it has rescued 149 women and children abducted by the armed group Boko Haram in the country's northeast.

Onyema Nwachuku, army spokesman, said on Sunday the freed captives included 54 women and 95 children, according to the NAN news agency.

"The rescued hostages are currently receiving medical attention," he said in a statement, adding that they would be "profiled after the medical screening".

The rescues took place during a raid on a Boko Haram hideout in the community of Yerimari Kura on Saturday. Soldiers killed three fighters during the operation and captured five others suspected of belonging to the group, Nwachuku said.

His statement did not specify when the women and children had been abducted.

Al Jazeera's Ahmed Idris, reporting from Abuja, capital of Nigeria, said the number of people Boko Haram had kidnapped in Yerimari Kura "demonstrated the group's resilience", despite losing significant swaths of territory to the Nigerian army in recent years.

Boko Haram, whose name roughly translates to "Western education is forbidden", has waged a nearly 10-year armed campaign to create an Islamic state in northeastern Nigeria.

The conflict has left at least 20,000 people dead and displaced more than 2.6 million.

At its peak, the group effectively controlled large areas in the Lake Chad region, but the Nigerian military, with assistance from Chad, Cameroon and Niger, has pushed Boko Haram fighters out of a number of provinces.

However, "Boko Haram has adapted by splitting into smaller groups, infiltrating communities, launching attacks here and there and continuing to make statements that they are very much around", said Idris.

In March, a Boko Haram attack on the northeastern town of Rann left at least two aid workers, a doctor and eight soldiers dead.

In February, Nigerian and Cameroonian troops freed 1,130 civilians kidnapped by the group in the Lake Chad region.

Boko Haram gained international notoriety after its fighters kidnapped 276 schoolgirls in the town of Chibok in April 2014. About 100 girls are still missing.

In February, the group's fighters attacked another school in the northeastern state of Yobe and seized more than 110 schoolgirls. A month later, the government said 101 had been freed.

Al Jazeera

Video - Mixed reactions to Buhari's decision to grant amnesty to militants

The announcement by the Nigerian government that it is willing to grant Amnesty to Boko Haram insurgents who are willing to lay down their arms is generating so much debate in the country. While some people have welcomed the idea, others have strongly opposed it. CGTN's Deji Badmus has more on that.

Video - Nigeria looking to achieve rice self-sufficiency by 2020

Nigeria is the world's 2nd largest importer of rice. The government is now looking to support local farmers and has set a goal of achieving self-sufficiency in rice production by the year 2020. Some economists feel that target may be a little ambitious.