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Nigeria: Questions Mount Over U.S. Airstrikes in Northern Nigeria$

By Leslie Varenne, MondAfrique: The American strikes carried out in Nigeria on Christmas Day raise serious questions. Beyond the confusion surrounding the objectives of the operation, inconsistencies in official statements, and the unclear nature of the targets, the...

Nigeria grapples with end of fuel subsidyF

By Alexandre Martins Lopes: Nigerians are struggling with surging fuel prices after newly elected President Bola Tinubu declared an end to popular subsidies, a move analysts and experts said was long overdue. On his first day in office, Tinubu kept to his campaign...

Nigeria: Nearly 2,000 inmates escape Owerri prison after daring attackF

Posted On 5 April 2021

More than 1,800 inmates have escaped after heavily armed men attacked a prison in southwest Nigeria using explosives, prison authorities said Monday. The attackers blasted their way into the Owerri prison in Imo state, engaging guards in a gun battle, the national corrections authority said in a statement. “I can confirm that the Imo State command of the Nigerian Correctional Service was attacked by unknown gunmen in Owerri,” Imo state corrections service spokesman James Madugba told AFP, adding that the number of escaped inmates was yet to be confirmed. “The situation is under control,” he said.

The assailants arrived in pickup trucks and buses before storming the facility, the correction authority statement said. Imo state is part of a region that has long been a hotbed for separatist groups and where tensions between federal authorities and the indigenous Igbo population are often high.

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has recently been posting videos on social media of dozens of its militiamen in training. But IPOB spokesman Emmanuel Powerful rejected any involvement in the prison attack in a statement sent to AFP, dismissing any accusations as “lies”.

AFP

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The Nigeria Precedent: Why Degrading One Group Won’t Secure Mali$

The Nigeria Precedent: Why Degrading One Group Won’t Secure Mali$

Seven months into an air campaign against ISWAP and Boko Haram, Nigeria’s broader insecurity crisis remains largely untouched. As Washington weighs a similar strike option against JNIM in Mali, the Nigeria case raises hard questions about what airpower can actually buy.

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