Tag: Nigeria

Africa’s ‘Big Two’ Economies Punished for Lack of Action Against Terrorist Financiers

JOHANNESBURG—The world anti-money laundering organization Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has “grey-listed” Africa’s two biggest economies, Nigeria and South Africa. The Paris-based task force said the action was taken because both countries hadn’t done enough to prevent illicit financial flows and terrorist financing. Financial experts warn the gray-listing could be “devastating” to Nigeria’s and South…


Nigerian Senator Tells Jury at UK Organ Harvesting Trial He Never Agreed to Pay His Daughter’s Kidney Donor

LONDON—A wealthy Nigerian senator on trial for organ harvesting has denied he ever promised money or “material advantage” to a young Lagos street trader who was allegedly brought to London to donate a kidney for his seriously ill daughter. Ike Ekweremadu, 60, his wife Beatrice, 56, and daughter Sonia, 25, are on trial along with…


Police: Illegal Refinery Blast in Nigeria Kills at Least 12

ABUJA, Nigeria—An explosion and fire near an illegal oil refinery site in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region killed at least 12 people Friday, police said, although local residents reported a much higher death toll. The explosion in Emuoha council area of the southern Rivers state occurred along a pipeline targeted by illegal refinery operators who were…


Nigeria’s Election of Bola Tinubu: Military Coups Have Been Better Received

Commentary Nigeria’s 2023 presidential election statistically and overwhelmingly failed to represent the majority of Nigerian citizens—let alone voters—and instead, delivered a new All-Progressives Alliance President in Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The incoming President, who showed numerous examples during the campaign that he was severely health-challenged, is now expected to deliver four more years of the policies…


Organ Harvesting Trial Accused Admits Lying About His Own Kidney Donor Being His Cousin

LONDON—A radiologist accused of being the middleman in an illegal attempt to procure a kidney from a street trader in Lagos that was to be donated to the daughter of a wealthy Nigerian politician has admitted he lied when he claimed his own donor was his cousin. Obinna Obeta, 51, told a jury he himself…


Nigerians Vote for New President, Braving Long Delays in Hope of Bringing Change

KANO, Nigeria—Officials counted votes in Nigeria’s elections on Saturday, with people hoping for a reset after years of worsening violence and hardship under outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari, undeterred by delays at some polling stations. The electoral commission said the official results could be expected from late on Sunday. By the evening, some polling stations were…


‘I Was Crying and Shaking’ Witness Tells UK Organ Harvesting Trial as He Recalls Hearing About Kidney Transplant

LONDON—A street trader from Nigeria has told a trial of his shocked reaction when he was told by a doctor in a London hospital he was there to donate one of his kidneys to someone, who turned out to be the daughter of a wealthy politician. Ike Ekweremadu, 60, a senator in Nigeria and a…


Home Secretary Suella Braverman Unveils ‘Toughest’ Measures to Combat UK Domestic Violence

Home Secretary Suella Braverman announced “one of the toughest suites of measures” ever to combat domestic violence in England and Wales. Under the new arrangements, the most serious domestic violence abusers will be monitored more closely and subjected to electronic tagging to protect vulnerable their partners, ex-partners, and children. Violence against women and girls will…


Elections That Mark 2023 as a Key Year

Commentary Elections, even in small nation-states, can have global consequences, and three national elections, at least in 2023, will have significant strategic ramifications beyond their borders: those in Nigeria, Turkey, and New Zealand. Nigeria’s Feb. 25 presidential and parliamentary elections are the most important of Africa’s 10 scheduled 2023 elections because Nigeria is both Africa’s…


Religious Freedom Summit Highlights Atrocities in China, Russia, Nigeria

Commentary Dmitri Bodyu, a Ukrainian American pastor, is a three-time religious refugee who last year added “Russian prisoner” to his list of life-or-death challenges. As a teenager in 1989, Bodyu and his family fled religious persecution in the Soviet Union and moved to Texas where they were given legal refugee status and eventually became U.S….