'101-year-old great-grandmother' arrested for selling cannabis in Nigeria

 

An elderly woman, who the authorities say is 101, has been arrested in Nigeria for allegedly selling cannabis, in a case that has drawn widespread attention.

Esther Ogunmabo, described as a great-grandmother, was apprehended on Saturday in Ogun state, in the south-west of the country, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) announced.

Femi Babafemi, the agency's media director, said the centenarian was found with "retail sachets of skunk, a strain of cannabis weighing 90 grams, which she claims she sells to locals".

The NDLEA said the suspect told investigators that she turned to the illicit drug trade after her provisions shop was destroyed by fire. She has been released on bail.

According to the Ndlea, one of her daughters, who lives in Lagos, allegedly arranged for the supply of the substance to her every four days. Ogunmabo is accused of then selling it on in smaller quantities to customers in her community.

Ndlea chief executive Mohamed Marwa directed that the suspect be granted bail and given counselling because of her advanced age.

Ogunmabo’s bail status means she could still be charged for criminal activity.

Her daughter has also been arrested.

Ogunmabo’s arrest came as the Ndlea also reported significant drug seizures along Nigeria's maritime routes.

In Akwa Ibom state, operatives acting on credible intelligence intercepted a wooden boat on the high seas last Friday, which was heading to Cameroon, and arrested three people on board.

More than 42kg of narcotics were recovered from the suspects.

In what the agency described as a milestone, the Ndlea also recorded its first-ever seizure of illicit drugs shipped from Thailand.

By Mansur Abubakar, BBC

Kidnappers release video showing hundreds abducted from Nigerian mosque

Kidnappers have released a video of what appears to be a large group of people being held captive by armed men in a forested area in Nigeria.

The video emerged on Sunday, two days after gunmen abducted as many as 600 worshippers during Friday prayers at a mosque in Dekera village in Nigeria’s north-central Niger state.

The incident comes as Nigeria prepares for presidential elections in January, with security likely to be high on the agenda due to a wave of mass kidnappings for ransom across the north of the country.

Dekera village residents have reported that gunmen took people away in simultaneous raids on several communities.

In the video, posted on Facebook and WhatsApp and circulating widely, children can be heard crying. A gunman speaking in the Hausa language speaks directly to families of the captives, telling them to identify relatives.

“These are all your people,” the gunman ⁠says.

News agencies reported that they could not verify the exact date or location where the video was filmed. However, no older version of the video has been found posted online before Sunday.

Residents, including Abdulmutallib Muqaddas Dindi, were able to confirm the identities of some ⁠of the hostages.

“We have identified our elders, relatives, and some of us have seen their wives and children in the video,” he said.

Police and state authorities have not responded to requests for comment.

Amnesty International has urged Nigerian authorities to secure the release of the worshippers, warning of the growing threat posed by mass abductions in northern Nigeria.

State Commissioner for Information and Orientation Obed Nana told the Anadolu news agency that an operation is under way to “assess the situation, track the attackers, and facilitate the rescue of the abducted worshippers”.

Mass abductions for ransom have become common in parts of northwestern and north-central Nigeria, with armed gangs frequently raiding villages, schools and highways and holding abductees until the gangs are paid large sums of money.

Increasingly, the gunmen are targeting communities further south, beyond ‌hot spots in the north.

As he prepares for the election, President Bola Tinubu has faced growing criticism over lax security.

Al Jazeera

Nigeria approves two new satellites to cut foreign satellite dependence

Nigeria is moving to strengthen its homegrown satellite infrastructure after the Federal Executive Council approved the acquisition and deployment of two new high-throughput communication satellites, NIGCOMSAT-2A and NIGCOMSAT-2B. The approval, disclosed on August 22, 2026, moves the project into its next implementation phase and is expected to expand Nigeria’s satellite capacity while reducing its reliance on foreign infrastructure. The satellites are being positioned as part of a broader effort to strengthen the country’s digital infrastructure and make more communications capacity available locally.

The bigger issue here is that Nigeria’s digital economy is increasingly dependent on infrastructure it does not own. Satellite connectivity has become particularly visible since Starlink entered the Nigerian market, with the service growing into one of the country’s largest ISPs. That has been useful for connecting places where fibre and terrestrial networks struggle, but it also highlights the gap between Nigeria’s demand for connectivity and the capacity of its own satellite infrastructure. The government now wants NIGCOMSAT-2A and 2B to help close some of that gap rather than leaving the country increasingly dependent on overseas satellite operators.

Nigeria’s existing NIGCOMSAT-1R was launched in December 2011 and has been providing communications services for more than a decade. But its original design life was about 15 years, meaning the country has been approaching the point where replacement capacity becomes increasingly important. The planned 2A and 2B satellites therefore aren’t simply about adding more bandwidth; they are also about giving Nigeria a next-generation replacement and additional capacity as demand for broadband, broadcasting, government communications and other digital services continues to grow.

And this comes at an interesting time for Nigeria’s broader digital-infrastructure push. The government says it has invested more than ₦3.8 trillion in IT infrastructure since 2023, while policies around data localisation are also pushing more digital infrastructure and services into Nigeria. At the same time, satellite operators such as Starlink are demonstrating how quickly private companies can deploy alternative connectivity infrastructure when terrestrial networks fall short. The challenge for NIGCOMSAT will therefore be less about simply putting two satellites into orbit and more about whether Nigeria can turn them into commercially useful infrastructure that attracts customers, generates revenue and competes effectively.

That is ultimately what will determine whether this becomes a meaningful sovereignty story or just another government infrastructure project. Owning satellites gives Nigeria more control over critical communications capacity, but the satellites still need to be well managed, commercially viable and connected to the rest of the country’s broadband ecosystem. If NIGCOMSAT-2A and 2B can provide reliable, affordable capacity to telecom operators, government agencies, businesses and underserved communities, they could reduce Nigeria’s dependence on foreign infrastructure while creating a stronger domestic space and communications industry. But the real test begins after approval: getting the satellites built, launched, operational and, crucially, used at scale.

By Victoria Fakiya, Techpoint

Jihadis kidnap dozens during Friday prayers in Nigeria

Extremists attacked and abducted a number of worshippers in Nigeria's Niger State, authorities said on Saturday.

Police said the armed men attacked a number of villages in the Borgu Local Government Area before storming a mosque in the village of Kpenya during Friday prayers.

"People were abducted while praying at a Juma’at mosque on Friday," Borgu area council chair Abdullahi Mohammed Nasir told the Associated Press.

"That was when the bad people came and surrounded the mosque and took them away."

Some witnesses recounted extreme violence.

"Soon after finishing the normal Friday prayer, the armed group [...] in their hundreds, wielding guns, knives and machetes, began to attack us," one survivor told the AFP news agency. "They slaughtered some of our people, saying we are not practicing the true teachings of Islam."

Local residents told the AFP and Reuters news agencies that dozens of people — as many as 60 — were kidnapped.

Witnesses also told AFP that the armed men killed several people, although according to police, "the developing report indicated that no life ‌was ​lost."

Who was responsible for the attack?

No group claimed responsibility for the attack in the day that followed and police have not identified the culprits.

One witness told AFP that the gunmen belonged to Lakurawa — an increasingly radical outfit that researchers link to the "Islamic State Sahel Province" group.

Another resident told AFP that the attackers were Ansaru, which split from Boko Haram and is now aligned with al-Qaeda.

Witnesses also said that a third, rival jihadi group known as Mahmuda clashed with the attackers and allowed some of the abductees to escape.

Although jihadi attacks have declined in Nigeria since the height of Boko Haram's insurgency last decade, the military and police remain overstretched as they face multiple, sometimes overlapping conflicts.

In addition to jihadist insurgency in the north, parts of Nigeria also face violence and kidnappings from non-ideological gangs known locally as "bandits."

By Zac Crellin, DW

Google raises cloud storage subscription price by 51.72% in Nigeria

Multinational technology corporation Google has increased its cloud storage subscription for the Standard plan by approximately 51.72 per cent, with the new price range effective 22 September.

Google One, a cloud storage service offered by Google LLC, provides users with additional cloud storage that is shared across Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos.

The company disclosed the price increase in an email sent to customers on Sunday, stating that the monthly subscription for Google One’s 200 GB plan will rise from N2,900 to N4,400.

The subscription enables customers to maintain access to its range of services through a centralised platform.

“Your price may change again as described in the Google Play Terms of Service. You can choose to stop your subscription from renewing at any time and see upcoming charges in Subscriptions on Google Play,” the technology giant stated.

Google said the price increase would not affect customers’ data, adding that subscribers would retain their existing storage capacity and all membership benefits.

It added that customers will be automatically charged the new subscription price, plus any applicable taxes, using their selected payment method at their next billing date, unless they cancel the subscription.

The current prices of other Google One plans listed on the technology company’s website include Google AI Plus at N7,700 per month for 400 GB of storage, Google AI Pro at N28,500 per month for 5 TB, and Google AI Ultra at N89,000 per month, offering 20 TB of storage.

For non-AI plans, Google lists Lite at N1,300 per month for 30 GB of storage, Basic at N2,950 per month for 100 GB, and Standard at N4,400 per month for 200 GB.

Meanwhile, in a July announcement, Nigeria was listed among the countries where Google said prices for Google One plan purchases would increase, alongside Algeria, Egypt, Pakistan and Turkey, with new members in these markets subscribing at the revised rates.

Every Google account comes with 15GB of free storage by default, and a paid plan extends that to 100GB or beyond, depending on subscribers’ preferences.

This also allows subscribers to get access to AI features, Google support experts, and certain benefits that can be shared with family members.

The price hike comes amid complaints from Nigerians over rising costs of digital products and services, including telecoms data and airtime.

The complaints have also prompted telecom operators such as Airtel to launch campaigns highlighting how customers consume data, with cloud services and storage backups accounting for a major share of their data usage.

By Omotoyosi Idowu, Premium Times