Timeline Nigeria
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Nigeria is home to some 250 ethnic groups. The
Yoruba, Hausa, Fulani and Ibo are the main ethnic groups. The
capital is Abuja. Daily crude oil production was 2.2 million barrels
per day in 4/03. The total reserve base was about 21 bil barrels.
That’s about 30 years worth. In 2001 Nigeria was the world’s 12th
largest oil producer.
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A11)(SFC, 3/2/99, p.A10)(SSFC,
6/3/01, p.A14)
Nigeria is 369,507 square miles, twice the size of California, and
is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, Benin, Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
As of 2000 12 of Nigeria’s 36 states practiced Sharia law.
(AP, 4/19/03)(Econ, 2/14/04, p.44)
The core of the Sokoto Caliphate lies within the boundaries of
present day Nigeria. It once covered an area of 250,000 square miles
(650,000 square kilometers) and stretched as far as Nikki in Benin,
Ngaundere and Tibati in Cameroon and much of the southern part of
the Niger Republic.
(AP, 6/18/04)
Yoruba masters created decorative masks, headdresses, figures and
other objects of art from this area and Benin.
(WSJ, 2/10/98, p.A16)
The Wodaabe nomads, numbering about 40-50,000, moved constantly
across the Sahel between Niger, Mali and Northern Nigeria. They are
of Fulani origin, a race scattered all over West Africa.
(SFEM, 10/11/98, p.40)
2000BC The
Ikom monoliths in Nigeria, phallic-shaped pieces of volcanic rock
largely ignored for centuries, were said to date back to about this
time. In 2007 they were added to the World Monuments Fund's (WMF)
list of sites in danger and are on the "tentative" list for possible
inclusion in UNESCO's World Heritage Site list.
(AFP, 12/26/07)
500 In Nigeria evidence of
urbanization at the Yoruba city of Ife dated back to about this
time.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ife)
700-900 In Nigeria the Yoruba-speaking kingdom of
Ife began to develop as a center of trade and weaving and bead
manufacture.
(Econ, 9/4/10,
p.92)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ife)
1200-1400 In Nigeria the Yoruba-speaking kingdom
of Ife reached a peak of artistic expression during this period.
(Econ, 9/4/10,
p.92)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ife)
1767 English slave traders
captured 2 native nobles, Little Ephraim Robin John and Ancona Robin
Robin John on the west coast of Africa and took them in chains to
Dominica. They soon escaped but were resold into slavery in
Virginia. Some 4 years later they were taken to England and again
resold and returned to Virginia. They later made it back to their
home on the Calabar River (SE Nigeria) and became slave merchants
themselves. In 2004 Randy J. Sparks authored “The Princes of
Calabar.”
(WSJ, 5/21/04, p.W4)
1771 Sep 10, The Scottish
explorer Mungo Park (d.1806) was born. He settled the question as to
the direction of flow of the Niger River as he traced the northern
reaches of the African river in the 1790s. Park was one of the first
explorers sponsored by England's African Association. He died in
1806 on another expedition to determine if the Niger linked with the
Congo River. He reportedly drowned while fleeing attackers near
Bussa, which is in present-day Nigeria.
(HNQ, 6/6/98)
1823 British Major Dixon Denham
and Captain Hugh Clapperton (1788-1827) entered Northern Nigeria
from the north, crossing the desert from Tripoli.
(Econ, 1/7/06, p.74)(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Clapperton)
1827 Apr 13, Hugh Clapperton,
Scottish traveler and explorer of West and Central Africa, died in
Sokoto, Nigeria, of dysentery.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Clapperton)
1885 Feb 26, The Congress of
Berlin gave Congo to Belgium and Nigeria to England.
(SC, 2/26/02)
1895 A massacre occurred in
Nembe over palm oil.
(SFC, 9/30/98, p.A10)
1897 Benin City, capital of Edo
state, was burned and ransacked by the British after the Bini killed
a British diplomatic mission. 16th century brass plaques were looted
from the royal palace and sold to the British Museum.
(SFC, 3/29/02, p.D8)
1903 Mar 15, The British
conquest of Nigeria was completed, 500,000 square miles were now
controlled by the U.K.
(HN, 3/15/98)
1914 Nigeria was cobbled
together by British colonialists. Over 200 ethnic groups were
brought together into one country.
(SFEC, 7/19/98, p.A20)
1923 The Baptist Boys High
School at Abeokuta was founded by American missionaries.
(SFEC, 7/19/98, p.A20)
1930 Nov 16, Chinua Achebe,
Nigerian novelist and poet, was born.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinua_Achebe)
1934 Jul 13, Wole Soyinka,
Nobel Prize-winning Nigerian playwright, was born.
(HN, 7/13/01)
1937 Mar 5, Olusegun Obasanjo
was born in Abeokuta.
(SFC, 3/2/99, p.A10)
1937 The Royal Dutch Shell
Group began working in the Nigerian oil fields.
(WSJ, 10/14/95, p.A-11)
1943 Sep 20, Sani Abacha was
born in the northern state of Kano.
(WSJ, 6/9/98, p.A15)
1945 There was a general strike
in Nigeria.
(WSJ, 6/4/99, p.W15)
1950s Nigeria passed
legislation that became known as the “Four Obnoxious Bills.” The
laws ensured that revenues from natural resources were collected at
the center and doled out to the rest of the 36 states without
proportion to their role in generating the wealth.
(WSJ, 4/15/03, p.A14)
1951 The MacPherson
Constitution centralized power in Nigeria. That power has been
monopolized by the northern Hausa-Fulani, a predominantly Muslim
group that also dominates military leadership.
(WSJ, 12/15/95, p.A-16)
1952 The evangelical Redeemed
Christian Church of God was founded in Lagos, Nigeria. In 2005 the
organization began building its North American headquarters near
Greenville, Texas. The church’s goal was to establish parishes
within five minute’s driving distance of every family in every city
and town in the US.
(SSFC, 8/21/05, p.A17)
1952 Wole Soyinka (b.1934),
later Nobel Prize winner, helped found the Pyrates Confraternity at
Nigeria’s elite University of Ibadan. Splinter groups soon emerged
in a variety of cults and were later used by military leaders to
confront pro-democracy movement. In 2004 Rivers State outlawed
cultism, but with little effect.
(Econ, 8/2/08, p.50)
1954 Areogun (b.1880), Yoruba
sculptor, died. He was a native of the Ekiti region of Nigeria.
(www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/11/sfg/ht11sfg.htm)
1956 In Nigeria Shell became
the first company to strike oil at Oloibiri (later Bayelsa state).
(AP, 6/1/06)
1957 Abubakar Tafawa Balewa
became Nigeria's first and only prime minister. He held the position
until January 1966 when he was assassinated in the country's first
military coup d'etat.
(AFP, 8/29/10)
1958 Chinua Achebe of Nigeria
authored the novel "Things Fall Apart." It was about the Igbo
tribe's efforts to guard its way of life against English colonialism
and was made into a theater production in 1997. It sold millions of
copies worldwide and was voted Africa's best book of the century. In
2004 Achebe rejected a Nigerian national honors award, protesting
conditions in the West African nation and saying renegades were
trying to turn his home state into "a bankrupt and lawless fiefdom."
(WSJ, 2/09/99, p.A20)(SFEC, 8/6/00, BR p.4)(P,
10/18/04)
1960 Oct 1, Nigeria gained
independence from Britain (National Day).
(WSJ, 11/13/95, p.A-10)(WSJ, 10/14/95,
p.A-1)(EWH, 1st ed., p.1172)
1960 Nov 16, Nnamdi Azikiwe
became the 1st governor-general of Nigeria. He was a member of the
southern Ibo people.
(WSJ, 12/15/95, p.A-16)(EWH, 1st ed., p.1172)
1962 Feb, An organization of
African states was established by leaders of 20 nations meeting in
Lagos, Nigeria.
(PCh, 1992, p.983)
1963 Oct, Nnamdi Azikiwe became
the 1st president of Nigeria and proclaimed a republic.
(EWH, 1st ed., p.1172)
1963 Gulf Oil began oil
production in Nigeria.
(SFC, 11/19/98, p.A8)
1964 The documentary film “Give
Me a Riddle” was made by David Schickele in Nigeria after his
service in the Peace Corps.
(SFC, 11/3/99, p.C6)
1966 Jan 15, Nigeria’s PM
Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (b.1912) was assassinated in the country's
1st military coup.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abubakar_Tafawa_Balewa)
1966 Jan, In Nigeria Emeka
Ojukwu (1933-2011) came to power as governor of the
predominantly-Ibo Eastern Region.
(Econ, 12/3/11, p.114)
1966 Jul 29, In Nigeria
northern troops led by Major Theophilus Danjuma and Captain Martin
Adamu led a military coup that ended civilian rule.
(SFC, 3/2/99, p.A8)(WSJ, 4/15/03, p.A14)(AFP,
8/29/10)(AFP, 11/26/11)
1966 Aug 1, In Nigeria Gen'l.
Yakuba Gowon (b.1934) was named head of state and ruled until 1975.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakubu_Gowon)
1966 In northern Nigeria about
10,000 people died in riots following a failed coup led primarily by
Igbo army officers. Many fled back to eastern Nigeria ahead of
secessionist leader Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu declaring the region
and much of Nigeria's oil-producing southern delta its own nation.
(AP, 3/19/12)
1967 May 29, Lt. Col. Emeka
Ojukwu declared the independence of Biafra from Nigeria.
(http://flagspot.net/flags/ng-biaf.html)
1967 Jul 6, The Biafran War
erupted. The war, which lasted more than two years, claimed some
600,000 lives. The Republic of Biafra was proclaimed when the
eastern region of Nigeria, the homeland of the Igbo people, seceded.
This was followed by civil war. The federal troops of Nigeria held
most of rebellious Biafra by the end of 1968 but the Igbos attempted
to hold out in a small and crowded area. The war broke out when the
Igbos, led by Colonel Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu of the Nigerian army,
launched a rebellion to form a separate state following allegations
of ethnic cleansing, neglect and marginalization against federal
forces.
(AP, 7/6/97)(HNQ, 5/27/98)(AFP, 1/10/07)
1967 Sep 19, Nigeria began an
offensive against Biafra. [see Jul 6]
(MC, 9/19/01)
1968 Sep 15, The Organization
of African Unity condemned the secession of Biafra.
(WUD, 1994, p.1687)
1969 Singer Fela Anikulapo-Kuti
of Nigeria visited California for 10 months.
(WSJ, 2/24/99, p.A10)
1970 Jan 12, In Nigeria the
30-month civil war ended. The Biafran forces surrendered after
nearly a million ethnic Igbos died mostly of hunger and disease.
Emeka Ojukwu had led some 40 million Igbos in secession. In 2008
Nigeria paid the pension of Ojukwu and 63 other former rebels as
part of efforts to heal wounds. In 2007 Pres. Obasanjo declared Jan
15 as “Armed Forces Remembrance Day" in honor of the soldiers that
died in the war.
(HNQ, 5/9/00)(AFP, 1/15/07)
1970 The federal government
passes a law that gives all mineral rights to the federal
government.
(WSJ, 12/15/95, p.A-16)
1971 Feb 11, Whitney Young Jr.
(b.1921), National Urban League director, drowned in Nigeria.
(www.answers.com/topic/whitney-moore-jr-young)
1971 Dec 20, Ten French
physicians created a team that later became known as "Doctors
Without Borders" (Medecins Sans Frontieres) to help the people in
the Nigerian region of Biafra. They formed in frustration with the
neutrality of the Int'l. Committee of the Red Cross. Bernard
Kouchner (1939), later French foreign minister, was among the
co-founders.
(SFC, 10/16/99, p.A17)(SFEC, 12/19/99,
p.A14)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Kouchner)
1972 AgipPetroli S.p.A., an
Italian oil firm, began oil operations at Akaraolu.
(SSFC, 6/3/01, p.A14)
1973 Nigeria created a National
Youth Service Corps to promote national unity in a country with more
than 150 ethnic groups and to help reconcile the people after a
31-month civil war claimed as many as 1 million lives. It called for
a mandatory yearlong assignment for all Nigerians who graduate from
university before the age of 30.
(AP, 4/23/11)
1975 May 25, ECOWAS Treaty1 was
signed. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was
formed in Nigeria with 15 members that included: Benin, Burkina
Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea,
Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone,
and Togo.
(www.sec.ecowas.int/sitecedeao/english/achievements.htm)
1975 Gen'l. Murtala Muhammad
staged a coup after Gen'l. Gowon postponed a return to civilian
rule.
(SFC, 3/2/99, p.A8)
1976 Feb 3, In Nigeria Gen.
Murtala Ramat Muhammed (1938-1976) proclaimed Abuja as the new
federal capital. It was founded to replace Lagos and became the
official capital in 1991.
(SFC, 11/23/06,
p.A28)(www.datelineafrica.org/stories/200802130370.html)
1976 Feb 13, In Nigeria Gen'l.
Murtala Ramat Muhammad (b.1938) in the ruling junta was killed in a
coup attempt and his deputy, Gen'l. Olusegun Obasanjo, was named
president.
(SFC, 2/22/99, p.A10)(SFC, 3/2/99,
p.A8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olusegun_Obasanjo)
1976-1979 In Nigeria Gen’l. Olusegun Obasanjo
ruled as head of state. He relinquished the presidency after an
election and was jailed by Abacha in 1995 for treason.
(SFC, 6/16/98, p.A10)
1977 Feb 18, Soldiers from the
army of Gen'l. Obasanjo raided Kalakuta, the communal home of singer
Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. Fela's mother (77) was thrown from a 2nd-story
window and later died from her injuries. The compound was burned and
a fire brigade was prevented from reaching the site. Fela wrote the
song "Coffin for Head of State" to describe how he and his followers
carried her coffin to present it to Gen'. Obasanjo.
(WSJ, 2/24/99, p.A1,10)
1977 The Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation was established. In 2007 Pres. Umaru Yar’Adua
planned to replace it with 5 new companies.
(Econ, 9/29/07, p.51)
1979 Oct 1, Gen’l. Olusegun
Obasanjo (b.1937), head of Nigeria, relinquished the presidency
after civilian elections. He was jailed by Abacha in 1995 for
treason. Shehu Shagari became the civilian Second Republic president
until 1983.
(SFC, 6/16/98, p.A10)(SFC, 3/2/99, p.A8)(WSJ,
4/15/03, p.A14)
1979 Nigeria outlawed gas
flaring, to be phased out over 5 years. The law was not enforced and
in 2008 some 20 billion cubic meters of year were flared, out of a
global total of 150 billion.
(Econ, 4/5/08, p.50)
1980 In Nigeria Mohammed Marwa
Maitatsine, an Islamic scholar, was killed in the Kano insurrection.
He was originally from Marwa in northern Cameroon. After his
education he moved to Kano, Nigeria in about 1945, where he became
known for his controversial preachings on the Koran. His dissent was
disliked by the government, and he was exiled to Cameroon in the
early 1960s. Maitatsine uprisings continued to 1985.
(Econ, 1/30/10,
p.56)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammed_Marwa_Maitatsine)
1982 Gen’l Emeka Ojukwu,
secessionist leader of Biafra during Nigeria's civil war, was
pardoned and returned home from exile.
(Econ, 12/3/11, p.114)
1983 Dec 31, In Nigeria the
military again ousted the civilian government. Gen’l. Muhammadu
Buhari (b.1942), a Muslim from the Hausa tribe (Fulani), took power
in a coup. He soon launched a “war on indiscipline” and continue to
rule for 18 months.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammadu_Buhari)(Econ, 3/12/11, p.58)
1983 Chinua Achebe authored the
manifesto “The Trouble With Nigeria.” His novels included “Things
Fall Apart.”
(SFC, 8/1/01, p.A9)
1983 A Nigerian court decision
showed that politicians and others cannot demand the arrest of
individuals who slander, libel or defame them.
(AP, 2/2/11)
1984 Jan, In Nigeria Arthur
Judah Angel (21) was beaten and thrown behind bars when he went to
visit a friend who had been taken into custody at a neighborhood
police station. He failed to pay a bribe and was sentenced to death.
During his time in prison he made drawings and witnessed the
hangings of over 450 fellow inmates. After a series of appeals he
was released in February 2000. Rights groups from around the world
have used his surviving 51 death row works to lobby for the
abolition of the death sentence.
(AP, 12/30/08)
1984 Singer Fela Anikulapo-Kuti
of Nigeria was convicted on "spurious" charges of currency
violations and sentenced to 5 years in prison. He was released after
2 years.
(WSJ, 2/24/99, p.A10)
1984 Standard Oil of California
(Socal), under George M. Keller (1923-2008), purchased Gulf Oil and
its extensive operations in Nigeria and changed its name to Chevron.
(SFC, 11/19/98, p.A8)(SFC, 10/20/04, p.C6)(SFC,
10/18/08, p.B1)
1985 Newswatch was founded
while the country was under the military regime of Gen’l. Ibrahim
Babangida. Sani Abacha was the deputy head of state and set new
standards in the brutality the state was willing to use to limit
criticism.
(SFC, 4/16/98, p.A13)
1985 Aug 27, In Nigeria Gen’l.
Ibrahim Babangida began his rule. He gave up power in 1993.
(www.nigeriabusinessinfo.com/nigeria-elections2003/babangida-regime.htm)
1986 The Nobel Prize in
literature was awarded to Wole Soyinka of Nigeria.
(WSJ, 10/15/96, p.A16)
1986 A new government came to
power and singer Fela Anikulapo-Kuti was released from prison.
(WSJ, 2/24/99, p.A10)
1987 Chinua Achebe authored the
novel "Anthills of the Savannah."
(SFEC, 8/6/00, BR p.4)
1990 Nigeria founded a drug
agency and was soon in scandal as the top people were found to be
involved in trafficking.
(Econ, 12/8/07, p.56)
1990 In Nigeria 109 children
died after taking paracetamol laced with a compound similar to
diethylene glycol and also used in engine coolants.
(AFP, 3/31/09)
1991 Jul 11, A Nigerian
Airlines jet carrying Muslim pilgrims crashed at the Jiddah, Saudi
Arabia, int'l airport, killing all 261 people on board. The plane
was a Canadian-chartered DC-8.
(AP, 7/11/97)(WSJ, 11/13/01, p.A14)
1991 The city of Abuja,
Nigeria, officially replaced Lagos as the new capital.
(SFC, 11/23/06, p.A28)
1991 Ken Saro-Wiwa organized
the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People. It demanded $10
billion for environmental damage and royalties from the federal
government and Royal Dutch/Shell Corp., and it threatened to secede
from Nigeria.
(WSJ, 12/15/95, p.A-16)
1992 Sep 26, A Nigerian
military transport plane crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all
163 people aboard.
(AP internet, 9/26/97)
1992 Kenneth Nnebue, a Nigerian
trader based in Onitsha, shot a film called “Living in Bondage” to
help sell a large stock of blank videocassettes that he had
purchased from Taiwan. The film sold 750,000 copies and prompted
imitators and the growth of a Nigerian film industry known as
Nollywood. By 2006 Nigeria’s film industry employed about a million
people.
(Econ, 7/29/06, p.58)
1992 Commercial creditors
forgave much of Nigeria’s debt.
(Econ, 10/22/05, p.80)
1993 Jun 12, Chief Moshood
Abiola, a Yoruba, was elected to the presidency but the election was
annulled by the ruling Hausa and the country plunged into turmoil.
Gen’l. Ibrahim Babangida cancelled the elections. The northern Hausa
and Fulani tribes tended to dominate the military governments.
(WSJ, 12/15/95, p.A-16)(SFEC, 7/19/98, p.A20)
1993 Aug 27, Gen’l. Ibrahim
Babangida ended his rule over Nigeria.
(www.nigeriabusinessinfo.com/nigeria-elections2003/babangida-regime.htm)
1993 Sep 5, Seven Nigerian
soldiers were killed in a militia ambush in Somalia as they went to
the aid of other UN peacekeepers surrounded by a stone-throwing mob.
(AP, 9/5/98)
1993 Gen. Sani Abacha seized
power after nullifying an election that Moshood Abiola, a rich
businessman, appeared to have won.
(WSJ, 11/13/95, p.A-10)
1993 Shell Oil stopped pumping
oil in the Ogoni Province, but continued to use pipelines that pass
through it. The Ogonis are a 500,000-strong community in
southwestern Nigeria. They maintain that oil production has polluted
their land, destroying their livelihoods of fishing and farming.
Shell canceled several community development projects. It had
earlier agreed to spend $29 million per year on such projects. In
2011 a UN report said it could take 30 years and at least $1 billion
to rid the poisoned mangroves of a black carpet of crude.
(WSJ, 10/14/95, p.A-11)(WSJ, 11/15/95,
p.A-1)(WSJ, 12/15/95, p.A-16)(Econ, 8/13/11, p.46)
1994 Feb 5, Ben Enwonwu
(b.1921), Nigerian artist, died.
(Econ, 7/31/10, p.35)(http://tinyurl.com/25cc7co)
1994 Feb, Nigerian and Cameroon
forces clashed over the Bakassi region on the fishing and oil-rich
Gulf of Guinea.
(SFC, 5/7/96, p.A-10)
1994 May, Four Ogoni political
leaders, accused of collaboration by the youth wing of the MOSOP,
were murdered.
(WSJ, 12/15/95, p.A-16)
1994 Jun, A ban began on the
Nigerian paper “Punch” and lasted until Oct 1995.
(Econ, 12/18/04, p.67)
1994 Dec, In Nigeria Gideon
Akaluka, a Christian Igbo trader, was arrested over allegedly
defacing the Quran in Kano. Rioters broke into jail, beheaded him
and carried his head around the city on a spike.
(http://nigeriaworld.com/articles/2010/may/270.html)
1994 Opposition leader Anthony
Enahoro was detained for several months after the military crushed a
pro-democracy strike.
(SFC, 5/14/96, A-10)
1994 Moshood Abiola was
imprisoned by Sani Abacha on charges of treason for declaring
himself president.
(SFC, 6/5/96, p.C2)(SFEC, 7/19/98, p.A20)
1994 Wole Soyinka, Nobel Prize
winning author, fled Nigeria to avoid arrest on treason charges by
Gen’l. Abacha. He returned in 1998.
(SFC, 10/15/98, p.C4)
1995 Mar, Retired Gen’l.
Olusegun Obasanjo, former head of state, was arrested by the
military junta on suspicion of complicity in an alleged coup. He was
released in 1998.
(WSJ, 1/2/98, p.8)(SFC, 3/2/99, p.A10)
1995 Jun 22, Nigeria’s former
military ruler Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo and his chief deputy were
charged with conspiracy to overthrow Gen. Sami Abacha’s military
government.
(HN, 6/22/00)
1995 Nov 10, The execution by
hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa, and eight other members of the Movement
for the Survival of the Ogoni People was supervised by military gov.
Col. Dauda Musa Komo. This prompted the threat of economic
sanctions by the US and the EU.
(WSJ, 11/13/95, p.A-1)(WSJ, 1/2/98, p.8)
1995 A government tribunal
sentenced a leading environmental activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa, and three
others to hang for murder. He denied the charges and led protests
against oil activities and pollution in the Ogoniland region.
(WSJ, 11/1/95, p.A-1)
1995 Beko Ransome-Kuti, an
opposition figure, was arrested and sentenced to 15 years in prison
for trying to make public trial transcripts of an accused coup
plotter.
(SFC, 6/15/98, p.A11)
1995 Nigeria had about 100
million people and $40 bil in external debt. It was the fifth
largest oil producer in OPEC, and the US imported about 40% of its
oil. Per capita income was $230.
(WSJ, 11/13/95, p.A-10)
1995 Nigeria’s Pres. Sani
Abacha initiated the construction of a natural gas complex.
(WSJ, 6/21/04, p.A3)
1995-2002 In 2003 French prosecutors alleged that
some $180 million in illegal payments were made over this time to
Nigeria by the TSKG consortium in connection with a $4.9 billion
natural gas project at Bonny Bay. The US Halliburton Corp. had a 25%
stake.
(WSJ, 2/5/04, p.A1)
1996 Jan, The son of Nigeria's
military ruler was killed in a plane crash with 13 others. An
unknown group claimed responsibility.
(WSJ, 1/22/96, p.A-1)
1996 Mar 16, Voter turnout was
heavy in municipal elections, the first step in a return to civilian
rule.
(WSJ, 3/18/96, A-1)
1996 Mar 30, The military ruler
fired the chiefs of the army and air force amid a high profile visit
by a UN delegation evaluating a promised return to civilian rule.
(WSJ, 4/1/96, p.A-1)
1996 May 4, Nigerian and
Cameroon forces again clashed over the Bakassi region on the fishing
and oil-rich Gulf of Guinea.
(SFC, 5/7/96, p.A-10)
1996 May 13, Bopp van Dessel,
Shell’s former head of environmental studies reported in a taped
interview that the company broke its own rules and inter-national
standards in Nigeria and caused widespread pollution. He resigned
from his post in protest in late 1994.
(SFC, 5/13/96, p.C-12)
1996 Jun 4, In Nigeria Kudirat
Abiola, wife of imprisoned opposition leader Moshood Abiola, was
shot and killed by 6 gunmen near her home in Lagos. In 2011 Maj.
Hamza Al-Mustapha, right-hand man of dictator Sani Abacha, faced
trial for ordering a security agent to kill Kudirat. Al-Mustapha
denied taking part in her machine-gun killing, saying he was
tortured into a false confession.
(SFC, 6/5/96, p.C2)(AP, 8/9/11)
1996 Aug 15, In Nigeria 27 of
the 30 governors were sacked by Abacha. The other 3 were transferred
to other states.
(WSJ, 8/16/96, p.A1)
1996 Sep 19, It was reported
that police clashed with demonstrators last week and 10 people were
killed in the city of Kaduna. The crowd was protesting the arrest of
their spiritual leader on charges of broadcasting material that
could incite unrest.
(WSJ, 9/19/96, p.A1)
1996 Nov 7, Flight 086, a
Boeing 727 belonging to the Aviation Development Corp., crashed near
Epe, east of Lagos, and 141 people died.
(SFC, 11/8/96, p.A18)
1996 Wole Soyinka published in
exile “The Open Sore of a Continent: A Personal Narrative of the
Nigerian Crises.”
(SFC, 3/13/97, p.A12)
1996 Ibrahim El-Zak Zaky, a
radical Shiite preacher, was detained by the government for inciting
the public against the military government.
(SFC, 4/21/98, p.A13)
1996 In Nigeria Pfizer Inc.
tested, Trovan, an unapproved drug on children for an often deadly
strain of meningitis. In 2006 Nigerian medical experts concluded
that Pfizer violated international law and was never authorized by
the Nigerian government to give the unproven drug Trovan to nearly
100 children and infants at a field hospital in Kano, where they
were being treated.
(Reuters,
5/6/06)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trovafloxacin)
1997 Mar 12, Wole Soyinka,
exiled Nobel Prize winning author, was charged with treason along
with 11 others.
(SFC, 3/13/97, p.A12)
1997 Mar 27, Villagers occupied
a 7th oil installation on the Niger Delta in protests over local
government elections. Tribesmen last week seized 6 Shell sites. This
shut down 10% of Nigeria’s oil production.
(WSJ, 3/28/97, p.A12)
1997 Jun 2, Nigerian naval
vessels opened fire on Sierra Leone.
(SFC, 6/2/97, p.A8)
1997 Jun 8, Amos Tutuola, folk
writer, died at age 77. Born in Abeokuta his novels included “The
Palmwine Drinkard” and “My Life in the Bush of Ghosts.”
(SFC, 6/14/97, p.C2)
1997 Jul 31, Nigeria was named
the most corrupt country in the world by business people in a report
released by the German-based Transparency Int’l.
(SFC, 8/1/97, p.B3)
1997 Aug 2, In Nigeria Fela
Anikulapo-Kuti (b.1938), pop superstar, died of AIDS. He was a
saxophone player who fused rock with African rhythms into a blend
known as "Afrobeat." His albums included: "Zombie," "Army
Arrangement," and "Vagabond in Power." He recorded more than 50
albums in the 1970s and 1980s and his 27 wives mourned his death. In
2003 Michael Veal authored "Fela: the Life and Times of an African
Lion."
(SFC, 8/4/97, p.A16)(SFC, 4/27/04, p.E6)
1997 Nov 20, In Nigeria the
government of Gen’l. Sani Abacha gave 5 political parties $637,000
each to campaign in elections to restore civilian rule. Opposition
groups called politicians of the 5 parties government stooges. 18
parties had applied for recognition but only 5 were deemed suitable.
(SFC,11/21/97, p.D6)(SFC, 4/28/98, p.A6)
1997 Nov, Onome Osifo-Whiskey,
a managing editor of Tell news magazine, was abducted from his Lagos
home. Tell under Kola Ilori has managed to maintain publication
since 1993 on a weekly basis by printing in secret on presses all
over the country.
(SFC, 4/16/98, p.A13)
1997 Dec 20, There was an
alleged coup and Gen’l. Donaldson Oladipu Diya and 11 others were
arrested.
(SFC,12/24/97, p.A6)
1997 The military moved the
tribal boundary between the Itsekiri and Ijaw granting more land to
the Itsekiri in the Niger Delta.
(SFC, 6/2/99, p.A14)
1998 Jan 12, An underwater
pipeline from a Mobil Oil production platform broke and released
40,000 barrels of oil into the Niger delta.
(SFEC, 9/20/98, p.A26)
1998 Mar 21, Pope John Paul II
arrived in Abuja and began urging the military government to respect
human rights and release political prisoners.
(SFEC, 3/22/98, p.A2)
1998 Apr 1, A boat enroute to
Gabon with 300 passengers sank in the Bight of Bonny off Nigeria’s
Akwa Ibom state. 280 were missing and feared dead.
(SFEC, 4/5/98, p.A23)
1998 Apr 19, Police shot dead
at least 3 Shiite Muslims, supporters of Ibrahim El-Zak Zaky, and
wounded many more in Kaduna in clashes over 2 days.
(SFC, 4/21/98, p.A13)
1998 Apr 20, The last of 5
government-sanctioned parties agreed to back Sani Abacha in the
presidential elections. the government gave each party $250,000 for
its convention.
(SFC, 4/21/98, p.A13)
1998 Apr 28, A military
tribunal sentenced 6 men to death for plotting a 1997 coup against
Gen’l. Abacha. Gen’l. Oladipo Diya, former deputy head of state,
maintained that he was framed by officers close to Abacha who
fabricated the plot.
(SFC, 4/29/98, p.A10)
1998 May 1, In Nigeria police
in Ibadan fired into a crowd of 5,00 people demanding the ouster of
Sani Abacha and witnesses said 7 people were killed.
(SFC, 5/2/98, p.A9)
1998 May 8, Olisa Agbakoba, a
lawyer and leader of the Unite Action for Democracy, was arrested.
(SFC, 5/9/98, p.A12)
1998 May 29, Two activists were
killed by the Nigerian Mobile Police on Chevron’s Parabe oil
production platform. The police were flown in on Chevron helicopters
following 4 days of protests. In 2009 a federal judge upheld a San
Francisco jury’s verdict that cleared Chevron of wrongdoing in the
shootings.
(SFC, 11/19/98, p.A8,9)(SFC, 3/5/09, p.C1)
1998 Jun 8, Nigeria’s Gen’l.
Sani Abacha (54) died of a heart attack in the arms of 2 Indian
prostitutes and a local virgin. Gen’l. Abdulsalam Abubakar, the
defense chief of staff, was quickly named the new head of state.
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A11)(Econ, 12/18/04, p.62)
1998 Jun 12, Security forces
broke up a planned mass protest organized to mark the 5-year
anniversary of the annulment of the last presidential elections.
(SFC, 6/13/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 15, Nine prominent
political prisoners were released.
(SFC, 6/16/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 18, Six more political
detainees were released.
(SFC, 6/19/98, p.B7)
1998 Jun 25, Nigeria released
17 more political prisoners.
(WSJ, 6/26/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 27, It was reported
that a plague of “army” worms was ravaging grain fields in the
northern states of the country. The worms could lay 500 eggs in 3
days.
(SFC, 6/27/98, p.A7)
1998 Jul 2, UN Sec. Gen’l. Kofi
Annan announced that at least 250 political prisoners would soon be
released including Moshood Abiola.
(SFC, 7/3/98, p.A14)
1998 Jul 7, In Nigeria
opposition leader Moshood Abiola (60) died of a heart attack while
still in prison and his death sparked rioting in Lagos that left at
least 19 people dead. Gen’l. Abubakar dissolved his cabinet,
inherited from Abacha, but left intact the Provisional Ruling
Council. He called the death a tragedy and appealed for calm.
(SFC, 7/8/98, p.A1)(SFC, 7/9/98, p.A1)(AP,
7/7/99)
1998 Jul 9, Nigeria’s junta
commuted the death sentence of Gen’l. Oladipyo Diya and five other
men convicted of plotting to overthrow Abacha. The rioting continued
and the death toll was raised to 60. Northern Hausa Muslims were
fighting Yorubas.
(SFC, 7/10/98, p.A14)(WSJ, 7/10/98, p.A1)(SFC,
7/11/98, p.A10)
1998 Jul 20, Abubakar announced
that elections would be held in 1999 and power passed to a civilian
president on May 29.
(SFEC, 7/21/98, p.A1)
1998 Aug 1, Elections were
planned and Gen’l. Sani Abacha was to have run unopposed.
(WSJ, 4/21/98, p.A1)
1998 Aug 11, Gen’l. Abubakar
named a new electoral commission and gave it 2 weeks to plan
elections to restore civilian rule by May 29.
(WSJ, 8/12/98, p.A1)
1998 Sep 18, Authorities
dropped charges against Nobel Prize winner Wole Soyinka and 14
others. Gen’l. Abubakar had asked that the charges be dropped and
said that he was seeking a national reconciliation.
(SFC, 9/19/98, p.C16)
1998 Sep 23, Transparency
Int’l, an int’l. good-government advocacy group, said that Cameroon
is viewed as the most corrupt of the 85 countries rated. Nigeria,
Tanzania, Honduras and Paraguay filled out the bottom five. Denmark,
Finland and Sweden were seen as having the cleanest political
systems.
(WSJ, 9/23/98, p.B17)
1998 Oct 6, In Nigeria attacks
by Niger Delta protesters shut down the Shell and ENI pipelines.
Anger over pollution of cropland and fishing grounds was growing.
(WSJ, 10/7/98, p.A1)
1998 Oct 17, In Nigeria a
pipeline explosion near the town of Jesse killed some 700 people.
Authorities believed that scavenger’s tools sparked the explosion.
(SFC, 10/19/98, p.a1)(SFC, 10/20/98, p.A8)(SFC,
10/21/98, p.C2)(AP, 10/17/08)
1998 Oct 22, In Nigeria 6
people died in clashes between the ethnic Ijaw and Itshekiri youths
in the oil town of Warri.
(SFC, 10/23/98, p.A19)
1998 Dec 2, In Nigeria the
military government uncovered a $2 billion fraud by members of
Abacha’s family involving overpayment to Russia for a steel project.
(WSJ, 12/3/98, p.A1)
1998 Dec 5, In Nigeria local
government elections were held.
(SFEC, 12/6/98, p.A21)
1998 Dec 6, It was reported
that 14 people died in poll-related violence.
(WSJ, 12/9/98, p.A1)
1999 Jan 4, Chevron received
word of an attack on its Searrex oil rig in Nigeria. Soldiers
dispatched to the rig allegedly fired on Opia village from a
helicopter and 2 villagers were killed. 2 more villagers were killed
a short time later at Ikenyan. A day later Chevron was invoiced
$109.25 for the services of the soldiers.
(SFC, 8/4/05, p.A4)
1999 Jan 9, Gubernatorial
elections were scheduled.
(WSJ, 1/7/99, p.A1)
1999 Jan 14, In Sierra Leone
the rebel alliance was prepared for a cease-fire after Nigerian led
forces took control of Freetown.
(SFC, 1/15/99, p.A15)
1999 Feb 9, An oil worker was
kidnapped.
(SFEC, 3/7/99, p.T14)
1999 Feb 14, A British oil
worker and his son were kidnapped in the southern delta region.
(SFEC, 3/7/99, p.T14)
1999 Feb 15, In Nigeria Gen'l.
Olusegun Obasanjo (61) won the nomination for president by the
People's Democratic Party.
(SFC, 2/16/99, p.A8)
1999 Feb 20, In Nigeria
National Assembly elections were scheduled. 469 seats in a bicameral
legislature were vied for by 3 parties. 360 members were for the
House of Representatives and 109 were for senators.
(WSJ, 2/19/99, p.A1)(SFEC, 2/21/99, p.A20)
1999 Feb 21, In Nigeria the
People's Democratic Party, led by Gen'l. Obasanjo, won 169 of 360
seats in the House. Lola Abiola-Edowar won a seat in the House of
Representatives. She was the daughter of Moshood Abiola, the
billionaire politician who died in military detention in 1998.
(SFC, 2/22/99, p.A10)(SFC, 2/24/99, p.C3)
1999 Feb 27, Presidential
elections were held. Also it was reported that some 1,200 soldiers
had died in fighting the rebels of the Revolutionary United Front in
Sierra Leone.
(SFC, 2/27/99, p.A14)(WSJ, 2/26/99, p.A1)
1999 Feb 28, In Nigeria retired
Gen'l. Obasanjo led the presidential vote with 62%. Serious concern
over vote-rigging was expressed.
(SFC, 3/1/99, p.A10)(WSJ, 2/26/99, p.A1)
1999 Mar 1, A gasoline bombing
of 2 police stations left 2 people dead including one policeman and
4 injured. The attack was blamed on a group called Odudua, which
wants a separate country for the Yoruba tribe of southwest Nigeria.
(SFC, 3/4/99, p.C4)
1999 Mar 3, In Nigeria 8-14
people were killed in post-election violence.
(SFC, 3/4/99, p.C4)
1999 Mar 4, In Nigeria the
outgoing military government freed 47 political prisoners including
Gen'l. Oladipo Diya.
(SFC, 3/5/99, p.D2)
1999 Mar 30, Olusegun Obasanjo,
pres. elect of Nigeria, met with Pres. Clinton and vowed to build
democracy.
(WSJ, 3/31/99, p.A1)
1999 Apr 1, In Nigeria the NV
George, a wooden vessel, capsized on the St. Bartholomew River
several dozen people were presumed drowned. The death toll was
raised past 100 after 50 bodies were found in a sunken hull.
(SFC, 4/3/99, p.A4)(SFC, 4/8/99, p.C3)
1999 May 5, Gen’l. Abubakar
signed a new constitution designed to smooth the transition to
civilian rule.
(WSJ, 5/6/99, p.A1)
1999 May 21, It was reported
that the military was plundering the treasury prior to the upcoming
transfer of power. The foreign reserves were said to have decreased
by $3 billion since Jan.
(SFC, 5/21/99, p.A12)
1999 May 29, In Nigeria Pres.
Olusegun Obasanjo took office. He suspended contracts awarded by his
predecessor. In the oil region 56 people were killed in ethnic
unrest in the Niger Delta between the Ijaw and Itsekiri. Ijaw tribe
fighters beheaded 3 elderly Itsekiri people.
(WSJ, 5/6/99, p.A1)(SFEC, 5/30/99, p.A17)(WSJ,
6/1/99, p.A1)(SFC, 6/2/99, p.A14)
1999 May 30, Fighting broke out
among members of the Itsekiri, Urhobo and Ijaw tribes in the Niger
River delta.
(SFC, 8/24/99, p.A10)
1999 Jun 2, In Nigeria troops
were deployed to the Niger Delta where the death toll from tribal
clashes had reached 200 after 4 days.
(SFC, 6/3/99, p.C4)
1999 Jun 10, In Nigeria Pres.
Obasanjo forced 122 top officers from the military over the last 2
days and seized hundreds of millions of dollars from associates of
the late dictator Gen'l. Sani Abacha.
(SFC, 6/11/99, p.D2)
1999 Jun 25, In Nigeria
representatives of the Ijaw, Itsekiri and Urhobo ethnic groups
agreed to end ethnic strife and pursue a lasting peace through
dialogue.
(SFC, 6/26/99, p.A16)
1999 Jun 28, In Nigeria it was
reported that armed members of the group Enough is Enough had seized
5 workers of Royal Dutch/Shell in Rivers State.
(SFC, 6/29/99, p.A9)
1999 Jul 8, Activists in
southern Nigeria claimed to have captured and shut down 61 oil wells
operated by Shell Co. Shell workers were also ejected from wells in
the states of Egbema East and Egbema West.
(SFC, 7/9/99, p.D5)
1999 Jul 10, Clashes began
between the Yorubas, mostly Christians, and Hausas, northern
Muslims, that left at least 60 people dead in the southwestern city
of Sagamu.
(SFC, 8/24/99, p.A10)
1999 Jul 17, In Nigeria
fighting erupted when a Hausa woman was caught watching a Yoruba
ritual. Over the next days hundreds of Hausa tribes people fled
Shagamu to escape fighting with their Yoruba neighbors.
(SFC, 7/21/99, p.C2)
1999 Jul 25, Ethnic fighting
killed at least 70 [40] people in Kano over the weekend.
(WSJ, 7/27/99, p.A1)(SFC, 8/24/99, p.)
1999 Jul, Fighting flared
between members of the Ijaws and Ilajes over land long disputed in
the southwest of Ondo state.
(SFC, 8/24/99, p.A10)
1999 Oct 7, It was reported
that floodgates were opened on the Niger River at 2 dams, Jebba and
Shiriro, to prevent Shiriro Lake from overflowing its banks. 400
villages were submerged leaving 300,000 people homeless and some 500
people were estimated to have been drowned.
(SFC, 10/7/99, p.C2)
1999 Oct 19, In Nigeria US Sec.
of State Albright recommended that US aid to the country be increase
4 times the current level. The extradition of drug lords as also
discussed with Pres. Obasanjo.
(SFC, 10/20/99, p.B3)
1999 Oct, Swiss authorities
first announced that they froze bank accounts belonging to the late
dictator Sani Abacha and his family members. The accounts totaled
some $550 million. Pres. Olusegun said documents proved that Abacha
and associates had diverted some $2.2 billion over a 4-year rule.
(WSJ, 12/15/99, p.A17)
1999 Oct, A joint venture
between Shell, Agip of Italy and TotalFinaElf of France opened a $4
billion liquid natural gas plant.
(SSFC, 6/3/01, p.A14)
1999 Oct, In Nigeria hundreds
of civilians were killed by soldiers in Benue. In 2002 Pres.
Obasanjo acknowledged that he ordered the military operations.
(SFC, 9/12/02, p.A4)
1999 Nov 3, Armed Itsekiri
tribal youths raided the Nigerian Gas Co. in Ekpan and left 30
people injured. They protested the firm's decision to pay levies to
mainly Urhobo community groups.
(SFC, 11/5/99, p.A17)
1999 Nov 15, In Nigeria
fighting began in the city of Warri in a dispute over the
distribution of pipes donated by Dutch Oil. At least 40 people were
killed.
(SFC, 11/19/99, p.D2)
1999 Nov 22, In Nigeria
officials reported that 43 people had been killed in the Niger Delta
including 8 soldiers after some 2,000 soldiers were sent to restore
order in Odi village in southern Bayelsa state. In 2002 Pres.
Obasanjo acknowledged that he ordered the military operations in Odi
that killed an estimated 1000 people.
(SFC, 11/23/99, p.A16)(SFC, 9/12/02, p.A4)
1999 Nov 25, At least 27 people
were killed at a food market in Kedu when Yoruba traders, backed by
members of the militant Odua People's Congress, clashed with Hausa
counterparts.
(SFC, 11/26/99, p.B4)
1999 The Nigerian film
“Saworoide” was released. It was seen as a commentary on the regime
of Sani Abacha.
(Econ, 5/28/11, p.26)
1999 Nigeria’s Kano state
introduced Islamic sharia law.
(Econ, 2/3/07, p.50)
2000 Jan 5, In Nigeria rival
youths of the Yoruba and Hausa tribes clashed in Lagos and Ibadan
and some 35 people were killed.
(SFC, 1/7/00, p.D3)
2000 Feb 9, In Nigeria it was
reported that 17 people were killed when a young man, who was not
allowed to participate, lit a match at a site where people were
siphoning off fuel from a pipeline in Ogwe.
(SFC, 2/10/00, p.C4)
2000 Feb 21, In Nigeria Muslim
and Christian youths seized parts of Kaduna in clashes over a
proposal to bring Islamic law (Shariah) to the state. Over 20 people
were killed.
(SFC, 2/22/00, p.A10)
2000 Feb 23, In Nigeria
residents fled Kaduna after 2 days of religious clashes left at
least 200 people dead.
(SFC, 2/24/00, p.A12)
2000 Feb 28, In Nigeria ethnic
violence between the Ibos and Hausas was reported from Aba in
reaction to the fighting in Kuduna. At least 50 people were reported
dead.
(WSJ, 2/29/00, p.A1)
2000 Mar 1, In Nigeria Pres.
Obasanjo deplored the recent killings in the southeast as the death
toll passed 400.
(WSJ, 3/2/00, p.A1)
2000 Mar 22, In Nigeria a
pipeline fire killed 50 people siphoning off gas in Abia state.
(SFC, 3/23/00, p.D2)
2000 Apr 19, Dozens of boat
passengers were missing and feared dead after a boat carrying as
many as 500 villagers sank on the Nembe River.
(SFC, 4/21/00, p.A20)
2000 May 22, Fresh
Christian-Muslim clashes left 3 people dead in Kaduna.
(WSJ, 5/23/00, p.A1)
2000 May 23, In Nigeria
Christians and Muslims clashed for a 2nd day in Kaduna and the death
toll mounted to 100.
(SFC, 5/24/00, p.C4)
2000 Jun 8, In Nigeria rioting
in Lagos and a nationwide strike began after a 50% increase in fuel
prices.
(SFC, 6/9/00, p.A15)
2000 Jun 13, In Nigeria a
national strike ended after the government agreed to a substantial
reduction in the 50% increase to fuel prices.
(SFC, 6/14/00, p.A13)
2000 Jun 19, Representatives of
Nigeria said they found bank accounts in Liechtenstein with over
$150 million held by family members of former dictator Gen Sani
Abacha.
(SFC, 6/20/00, p.A13)
2000 Jul 10, Over 100 people,
many of them children, were burned to death after a damaged gasoline
pipe exploded near the villages of Adeje and Oviri-Court in the
Niger Delta. The toll was later raised to 200.
(SFC, 7/12/00, p.A8)(SFC, 7/15/00, p.A12)
2000 Jul 16, Another pipeline
blast killed over 100 people between the villages of Ifie and Ijala.
The line was punctured to steal fuel.
(SFC, 7/17/00, p.A13)(WSJ, 7/17/00, p.A1)(WSJ,
7/18/00, p.A1)
2000 Jul 23, In Nigeria another
pipeline fire broke out near the port of Warri and left 40 fuel
scavengers dead.
(SFC,7/25/00, p.A14)(SFC, 7/26/00, p.A14)
2000 Aug 6, In Nigeria an
overcrowded boat capsized on the Atlantic coast near the Cameroon
border and at least 40 people drowned. 42 survived.
(SFC, 8/8/00, p.A12)
2000 Aug 26, Pres. Clinton
visited Nigeria. Pres. Obasanjo, head of 110 million people, pressed
Clinton to help reduce the country’s $32 billion debt.
(SFEC, 8/27/00, p.A14)
2000 Aug 27, Pres. Clinton
visited the village of Ushafa in Nigeria and urged Nigerians to
confront the “tyranny” of AIDS.
(SFC, 8/28/00, p.A1)
2000 Oct 5, Nigerians from
Libya arrived home on repatriation flights and bore tales of a
pogrom by youths resentful of economic immigrants.
(WSJ, 10/6/00, p.A1)
2000 Oct 16, In Lagos, Nigeria,
over 100 people died in clashes between Hausas and Yorubas. Most of
the dead were believed to be Hausas.
(SFC, 10/17/00, p.A16)(WSJ, 10/18/00, p.A1)(SFC,
10/20/00, p.D8)
2000 Oct 17, Lagos state Gov.
Bola Tinubu summoned Hausa and Yoruba leaders to peace talks.
(SFC, 10/19/00, p.C10)
2000 Oct 18, The Odudua Peoples
Congress, a Yoruba nationalist group, was banned and some officials
of the movement were arrested.
(SFC, 10/20/00, p.D8)
2000 Nov 5, At least 96 people
were killed when an oil tanker truck slammed into a line of parked
vehicles at a police check point between Ife and Ibadan.
(SFC, 11/7/00, p.B2)
2000 Nov 30, Dozens were
incinerated while scooping gasoline from a pipeline.
(WSJ, 12/1/00, p.A1)
2000 Dec 9, 62 people were
killed when a bus collided with a truck a 3rd vehicle hit the 1st
two and burst into flames.
(SFC, 12/13/00, p.B4)
2000 In Nigeria Anambra Gov.
Chinwoke Mbadinuju invited a fanatical Christian group, the Bakassi
Boys, to enforce law and order after some 35 merchants were killed
near Onitsha.
(SFC, 3/26/01, p.A8)
2000 In Nigeria 12 northern
states declared sharia law.
(Econ, 2/25/06, p.54)
2000 Nigeria was rated the most
corrupt country in the world according to Transparency Int’l. By
2007 it improved to become the 32nd most corrupt.
(Econ, 10/20/07, p.66)
2001 Jan 19, In Nigeria Bariya
Magazu (19) was flogged 100 times for having premarital sex under
Islamic law (sharia).
(SFC, 1/23/01, p.A11)
2001 Mar 6, In Jos 30 girls
died from a fire at the Gindiri Girls School. They were reportedly
locked in for the night so as not to mix with boys.
(WSJ, 3/8/01, p.A1)
2001 Apr 18, A mosque collapsed
amid a downpour in a Lagos shantytown and at least 12 children were
killed.
(WSJ, 4/20/01, p.A1)
2001 Apr 26, Kofi Annan
addressed an AIDS summit in Nigeria and called for an increase of
funding against AIDS to at least $7 billion.
(SFC, 4/27/01, p.D2)
2001 Apr 26, Nigeria announced
an agreement with Cipla, an Indian drug maker, for drugs to treat
10,000 people with AIDS at $350 per patient per year.
(SFC, 4/26/01, p.A13)
2001 Apr 27, 53 African states
signed a joint declaration to boost health spending to 15% to fight
AIDS.
(SFC, 4/28/01, p.A10)
2001 Apr, Dorothy Akunyili took
over as head of Nigeria’s National Agency for Food and Drug
Administration (Nafdac). Her main mission was to shut down drug
counterfeiters.
(WSJ, 5/28/04, p.A1)
2001 Jun 12, Clashes erupted
between the Azare and Tiv communities in central Nigeria.
(SFC, 6/30/01, p.A10)
2001 Jun 30, It was reported
that some 50,000 people had been driven from their homes in central
Nigeria during 2 weeks of ethnic violence in which as many as 200
people died in Nassarawa state.
(SFC, 6/30/01, p.A10)
2001 Jul 18, A 30-member
robbery gang killed up to 22 people in the town of Awkuzu in Anambra
state. They began with the house of Francis Okafor, a vigilante
member.
(SFC, 7/21/01, p.E2)
2001 Jul, Over 100 people were
killed in Nassarawa state in clashes between Tivs and other tribes.
(SFC, 8/1/01, p.A8)
2001 Sep 7, In Nigeria violence
between Christians and Muslims erupted in Jos. Pres. Obasanjo called
out the military the next day with dozens dead. Thousands fled the
area and at least 70 people were killed.
(SSFC, 9/9/01, p.A18)(WSJ, 9/10/01, p.A1)
2001 Sep 12, Fighting resumed
in Jos and the death toll estimate was raised to 165. Police moved
to quell the violence.
(SFC, 9/13/01, p.C2)
2001 Oct 14, Weekend
anti-American protests left at least 200 people dead in Kano.
(SFC, 10/15/01, p.A5)
2001 Oct 12, The mutilated
bodies of 19 abducted soldiers were found in Benue state.
(SFC, 10/25/01, p.C16)
2001 Oct 22-24, In eastern
Nigeria soldiers killed up to 200 civilians and caused thousands of
villagers to flee into the bush. The killings were apparently in
revenge for 19 soldiers killed in Benue state. Pres. Obasanjo later
acknowledged ordering the attacks and made a formal apology Jan 1,
2003.
(SFC, 10/25/01, p.C16)(SFC, 10/26/01, p.D3)(AP,
1/3/03)
2001 Oct 23, African leaders
gathered in Nigeria for the formal launch of the New Africa
Initiative, aimed at reviving ailing their economies.
(WSJ, 10/23/01, p.A1)
2001 Oct, Safiya Hussaini
Tungar-Tudu (35) was convicted of adultery and sentenced in an
Islamic court to be stoned while buried up to waist in sand. Her
appeal began in Jan 2002. Hussaini was acquitted Mar 25 based on
insufficient evidence.
(SFC, 1/15/02, p.A9)(SFC, 3/26/02, p.A6)
2001 Nov 4, In northern Nigeria
Christian-Muslim fighting over the weekend left about 10 dead. It
was sparked by the imposition of Muslim religious law, Shariah.
(WSJ, 11/6/01, p.A1)
2001 Dec 23, Bola Ige (71),
justice minister and attorney general, was shot and killed at
his home in Ibadan, Osun state. Pres. Obasanjo sent troops to
Ibadan.
(SFC, 12/25/01, p.A4)
2001 Over 100 flare stacks
burned some 2 billion standard cubic feet of natural gas per day. It
was estimated that 35 million tons of carbon dioxide was released
annually along with 12 million tons of methane.
(SSFC, 6/3/01, p.A14)
2001 Muslim-Christian fighting
in Jos over the year left some 915 dead.
(WSJ, 9/19/02, p.A1)
2002 Jan 6, It was reported
that Nigeria had a National Youth Service Corps that required
participation by all university graduates under age 30.
(SSFC, 1/6/02, p.A3)
2002 Jan 12, In Nigeria
fighting broke out in Owo when members of the Odua People’s Congress
approached the palace of a Yoruba tribal leader. Dozens were feared
dead.
(SFC, 1/14/02, p.A6)
2002 Jan 17, In Nigeria labor
leaders ended a 2-day general strike after Adams Oshiomole and other
activists of the Labor Congress were arrested.
(SFC, 1/18/02, p.A8)
2002 Jan 27, In Nigeria
explosions at the Ikeja military base rocked Lagos. Hundreds of
people died when they fled the area and drowned in Oke Afa drainage
canal. Deaths from panic later rose to 600 and then 1,000-2,000.
(SFC, 1/29/02, p.A5)(SFC, 1/30/02, p.A9)(SFC,
1/31/02, p.A9)(SSFC, 2/3/02, p.A17)
2002 Feb 2, In Lagos fighting
broke out between militants of the Yoruba and Hausa tribes. At least
55 people were killed over the next 2 days as fighting spread.
(SFC, 2/4/02, p.A3)(SFC, 2/5/02, p.A5)
2002 Feb 5, Troops cracked down
on ethnic fighting in Lagos following 3 days of clashes that left
over 100 dead.
(WSJ, 2/6/02, p.A1)
2002 Feb 14, Parliament voted
to condemn Pres. Obasanjo for “ineptitude, insensitivity” and other
offenses.
(WSJ, 2/15/02, p.A1)
2002 Feb 23, Switzerland
largest bank said it was freezing accounts containing money of the
family of Sani Abacha of Nigeria, dictator from 1993-1998. The total
blocked now reached $720 million.
(SSFC, 2/24/02, p.A20)
2002 Apr 4, Young Ijaw men from
Amatu kidnapped 10 oil workers off the southern coast. They demanded
employment, oil contracts and other help.
(SFC, 4/5/02, p.A12)
2002 Apr 17, The Swiss
government announced that the family of Sani Abacha will return $1
billion to Nigeria in an out-of-court settlement that allowed them
keep $100 million.
(SFC, 4/18/02, p.A11)
2002 May 4, A Nigerian jet
crashed in Kano. 4 of 76 onboard survived. Nigeria's EAS Airlines
owned the British Aerospace twin-engine jet. The Red Cross reported
145 dead. A total of 154 people on the plane and the ground were
killed.
(SSFC, 5/5/02, p.A16)(SFC, 5/6/02, p.A3)(AP,
5/4/03)
2002 Jul 8, In Nigeria unarmed
women, from the Arutan and Igborodo communities occupied a
Chevron-Texaco oil terminal, preventing 700 workers, including
Americans, Britons, and Canadians, from leaving. Their number soon
reached as many as 2,000.
(AP, 7/11/02)
2002 Jul 15, In Nigeria women
occupying a ChevronTexaco oil terminal agreed to end their eight-day
siege after the company offered to hire at least 25 villagers and to
build schools, electrical and water systems.
(AP, 7/15/02)
2002 Jul 17, In Nigeria
hundreds of unarmed women of the Ijaw tribe seized control of at
least 4 more ChevronTexaco facilities in the Niger Delta.
(SFC, 7/18/02, p.A17)
2002 Jul 19, In Abiteye,
Nigeria, unarmed women occupying at least four ChevronTexaco
facilities took two hostages in a bid to meet with oil executives.
(AP, 7/20/02)
2002 Jul 20, In southeastern
Nigeria unarmed women occupying at least four ChevronTexaco
facilities said they had freed their two hostages in return for a
promise from oil executives to meet with them.
(AP, 7/20/02)
2002 Jul 20, In Nigeria a huge
fire broke out Saturday at ChevronTexaco's main oil terminal, days
after unarmed village women ended a 10-day siege that crippled the
oil giant's local operations.
(AP, 7/20/02)
2002 Jul 20-22, In Nigeria
dozens of villagers have been killed, many hacked to death, in three
days of clashes between rival political factions battling for
influence in an oil-rich area of the Niger Delta.
(AP, 7/23/02)
2002 Jul 25, Hundreds of
Nigerian women left ChevronTexaco pumping stations in canoes and on
foot following an agreement with company executives.
(AP, 7/26/02)
2002 Jul 29, In Nigeria
presidential bodyguards opened fire on young men who were throwing
stones near the rear of Obasanjo's mile-long motorcade. Some people
were seen falling with multiple gunshot wounds, and at least six
limp bodies were seen being hauled away.
(AP, 7/29/02)
2002 Aug 3, In Nigeria amid
political wrangling and fears of violence, President Olusegun
Obasanjo said nationwide municipal elections would be postponed for
the second time in six months.
(AP, 8/3/02)
2002 Aug 8, In Nigeria police
freed 46 captives many of them chained and badly beaten in raids on
five "torture centers" run by a feared vigilante group.
(AP, 8/9/02)
2002 Aug 13, In Nigeria the
lower house called for the resignation of Pres. Obasanjo.
(WSJ, 8/14/02, p.A10)
2002 Aug 16, In central Nigeria
gunmen killed Ahmad Ahman Pategi, Kwara state chairman of the
Peoples Democratic Party and a senior official of President Olusegun
Obasanjo's ruling party, along with his police bodyguard.
(AP, 8/17/02)
2002 Aug 19, An Islamic high
court in northern Nigeria rejected an appeal by Amina Lawal, a
single mother sentenced to be stoned to death for having sex out of
wedlock.
(AP, 8/19/02)(WSJ, 8/20/02, p.A1)
2002 Aug 26, In Nigeria an
Islamic court has sentenced a couple to death by stoning for having
an affair, marking the first time in Nigeria that a man has been
sentenced to death for adultery.
(AP, 8/29/02)
2002 Aug 28, Nigeria renewed
warnings that it cannot pay its debt service payments for the year
because of falling oil revenue.
(AP, 8/28/02)
2002 Sep 16, In Lagos, Nigeria,
an accidental factory fire complex fire left at least 15 dead.
Thousands of rioters soon burned and looted the factory. 45 bodies
were later recovered.
(AP, 9/17/02)(WSJ, 9/19/02, p.A1)
2002 Sep 19, In Nigeria Ijaw
tribe militants captured seven foreign-owned oil facilities and
threatened to invade dozens more in a bid to force the government to
change election boundaries they say favor a rival tribe.
(AP, 9/20/02)(SFC, 9/21/02, p.A6)
2002 Sep 30, The National
Intelligence Council said China, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria and Russia
will have 50-75 million HIV-infected people by 2010, more than any
other 5 countries.
(SFC, 10/1/02, p.A5)
2002 Oct 10, The United
Nations' highest judicial body ruled in favor of Cameroon in a
border dispute with Nigeria, giving it possession of an oil-rich
peninsula in the Gulf of Guinea.
(AP, 10/12/02)
2002 Oct 23, The Nigerian
government said it rejects a World Court ruling that granted
possession of a disputed oil-rich peninsula to neighboring Cameroon.
(AP, 10/23/02)
2002 Oct 24, Nigeria's
parliament approved changes to an oil revenue-sharing law that gives
state governments a share of revenues from offshore oil and gas
production.
(AP, 10/25/02)
2002 Nov 8, Nigeria's Supreme
Court scrapped limits on the number of political parties, opening
the way for dozens of groups hoping to battle President Olusegun
Obasanjo's ruling party in 2003 elections.
(AP, 11/9/02)
2002 Nov 12, The Nigerian navy
raided a village in the swamps of the Niger Delta killing five
people after attackers from the village robbed a ChevronTexaco oil
boat.
(AP, 11/14/02)
2002 Nov 21, In Kaduna,
Nigeria, protesters set fire to cars and churches in the during
demonstrations over a newspaper article suggesting Islam's founding
prophet might have chosen a wife from among contestants in the Miss
World beauty pageant in Nigeria. Witnesses said at least four people
were stabbed and burned to death. Some 200 people died in ensuing
riots and the writer of the article was forced to flee to Norway.
(AP, 11/21/02)(Econ, 4/30/11, p.72)
2002 Nov 22, In Kaduna,
Nigeria, Christian youths retaliated against Muslims in the 3rd day
of riots triggered by a newspaper article about the Miss World
pageant. Red Cross officials said about 100 had died and 500 were
injured.
(AP, 11/22/02)
2002 Nov 23, Miss World
organizers moved the beauty pageant from Nigeria to London after
three days of Muslim-Christian bloodletting killed 215 people. The
violence was triggered by a newspaper's suggestion that the Islamic
prophet Muhammad would have liked the event.
(AP, 11/23/02)(AP, 11/24/02)
2002-2004 The Nigerian and Cameroon nations spent
two years exchanging small areas of territory along their land
border north of Bakassi until September 2004 when the peninsula
itself was first due to change hands. Nigeria cited "technical
difficulties" for missing that deadline, and after two years of
stalemate agreed at a meeting in the United Nations on June 12,
2006, to pull out within 60 days.
(AP, 8/13/06)
2003 Feb 2, In Nigeria a
powerful explosion destroyed a bank and dozens of apartments above
it on Lagos Island, and relief workers reported at least 46 killed
and many more trapped.
(AP, 2/2/03)(AP, 2/3/04)
2003 Feb 15, Nigerian
oil workers launched an indefinite strike that could shut down crude
exports in the world’s 6th largest oil exporter.
(AP, 2/15/03)
2003 Feb 25, In Nigeria
cars and buses ground to a halt in Africa’s leading oil-producing
nation, gripped by its worst fuel shortage since military rule ended
four years ago. Nigeria, with a population of 120 million people,
consumes 300,000 barrels of crude oil daily. Panic buying followed a
recent strike.
(AP, 2/25/03)
2003 Feb 27,
Semi-nomadic fighters attacked a village near Nigeria’s remote
eastern border with Cameroon, reportedly leaving dozens of people,
including seven policemen and a soldier, dead. Separately a large
dugout canoe capsized on the Niger River, drowning at least 30
passengers.
(AP, 3/3/03)
2003 Feb 28, The
International Atomic Energy Agency said it has sent an emergency
mission to Nigeria to help find an undisclosed amount of missing or
stolen radioactive material.
(AP, 2/28/03)
2003 Mar 5, In
Nigeria Marshall Harry, a senior member of the main opposition
party, was shot and killed by gunmen who broke into his home in the
capital.
(AP, 3/5/03)
2003 Mar 7, In Nigeria
the “Oba,” or king, of Lagos Island, Adeyinka Oyekan II (92), died.
Ritual human sacrifice was feared and a week of mourning left
streets deserted.
(AP, 3/14/03)
2003 Mar 12, In Nigeria tribal
fighting began between the Ijaw and Itsekiri.
(SFC, 3/21/03, p.A9)
2003 Mar 17, In Nigeria ethnic
clashes left 8 people dead, including an employee of ChevronTexaco.
(AP, 3/18/03)
2003 Mar 19, Boatloads of
Nigerian troops headed into the oil-rich Niger Delta on to put down
days of ethnic violence that has left dozens dead and disrupted
multinational oil operations.
(AP, 3/20/03)(SFC, 3/21/03, p.A9)
2003 Mar 22, In Nigeria ethnic
militants threatened to blow up 11 multinational oil installations
they claimed to have captured in retaliation for military raids.
(AP, 3/22/03)
2003 Mar 26, In Nigeria Ijaw
militants battling soldiers and tribal enemies in the oil-rich delta
region called for a cease-fire after state officials agreed to
support their political demands.
(AP, 3/26/03)
2003 Mar 29, Nigeria police
shot and killed seven members of the Movement for the Actualization
of the Sovereign State of Biafra and arrested more than 20 to
forestall a rally where they planned to make a symbolic declaration
of independence. The leader of the failed Biafra state, Emeka
Odumegwu Ojukwu, a leading opposition politician, lost in the April,
2003, presidential elections that were widely alleged to have been
rigged.
(AP, 3/30/03)(AP, 3/23/05)
2003 Apr 1, In Nigeria the
12-day rampage by Ijaw extremists has cut the normal oil output of 2
million barrels a day by 40 percent. Nigeria is the fifth-biggest
supplier of US oil imports.
(AP, 4/1/03)
2003 Apr 6, Babatunde Olatunji,
Nigerian drummer, died at the Esalen Inst. in Big Sur, Ca. He
pioneered African music in the US with his 1959 album “Drums of
Passion.”
(SFC, 4/9/03, p.A31)
2003 Apr 12, In Nigeria
parliamentary elections took place for 469 seats in the House and
Senate. 61 million voters were registered. The ruling party led
legislative elections, but violence accompanying voting in the
oil-rich south left at least two dozen people dead.
(WSJ, 4/11/03, p.A1)(SSFC, 4/13/03, p.A8)(AP,
4/14/03)
2003 Apr 19, In Nigeria
elections Pres. Olusegun Obasanjo, a former military ruler turned
civilian statesman, sought a second term against some 20 other
candidates. Obasanjo won 62% of 42 million votes. Opponents
denounced the elections as fraudulent and claimed serious rigging in
16 of 36 states.
(AP, 4/21/03)(WSJ, 4/22/03, A1)(Econ,
1/29/05, p.45)
2003 Apr 19, Striking Nigerian
oil workers took about 100 foreign workers hostage on several
offshore oil installations.
(AP, 4/29/03)
2003 May 2, Striking Nigerian
oil workers released the first of hundreds of people they have held
for days on oil rigs as part of an agreement to free all the
captives.
(AP, 5/2/03)
2003 Jun 19, In northeastern
Nigeria 30 miles north of the city of Umuahia, fuel gushing from a
vandalized pipeline exploded, killed at least 105 villagers as they
scavenged gasoline.
(AP, 6/21/03)
2003 Jun 30, In Nigeria a
general strike called to protest massive fuel-price increases
paralyzed the major cities. Police fired tear gas to break up mobs
of banner-waving workers and roving armed gangs.
(AP, 6/30/03)
2003 Jul 8, Nigeria's main
trade unions accepted a government compromise on fuel prices and
ended a crippling eight-day strike.
(AP, 7/8/03)
2003 Jul 12, Pres. Bush met
with Pres. Olusegun Obasanjo in Nigeria. They discussed the
circumstances under which Liberian President Charles Taylor will
live in exile in Nigeria, Wrapping up a five-day tour of Africa,
President Bush said he would not allow terrorists to use the
continent as a base "to threaten the world."
(SFC, 7/7/03, p.A8)(AP, 7/12/04)
2003 Aug 16, In Nigeria's
southern oil port city of Warri, authorities imposed a nighttime
curfew following gunbattles between rival tribal militias that have
killed at least 20 people.
(AP, 8/16/03)
2003 Aug 22, In Nigeria 5 days
of street battles in Warri left as many as 100 dead.
(SFC, 8/23/03, p.A16)
2003 Aug 29, In Nigeria crude
oil spilling from a ruptured Shell Oil pipeline burst into flames
near a southeastern village, scorching yam fields and spreading
thick, black smoke for miles. More than one-tenth of Nigeria's
exports are stolen daily by criminal rings who siphon the fuel from
pipelines using everything from buckets to sophisticated pumps.
(AP, 9/2/03)
2003 Sep 8, In central Nigeria
3 buses and a truck collided, killing more than 100 people in the
impact and the fiery explosion that followed.
(AP, 9/8/03)
2003 Sep 25, In Nigeria an
Islamic appeals court overturned the conviction of Amina Lawal. She
had been sentenced to death by stoning for committing adultery.
(AP, 9/25/03)
2003 Sep 27, A Russian rocket
brought two Russian and four foreign satellites, including Nigeria's
first, into orbit. Nigeria's $13 million craft, to be used for
taking photos, was built by a British firm.
(AP, 9/27/03)(Econ, 9/13/03, p.42)
2003 Sep 30, Nigeria lifted its
fuel price cap on petrol, diesel and kerosene throwing the market
open to competition and chaos ensued.
(Econ, 10/18/03, p.46)
2003 Oct 7, A ferry hit a
bridge in eastern Nigeria and capsized. Dozens were believed dead.
(AP, 10/11/03)
2003 Oct 15, Nigerian police
returned 74 child workers to Benin. As young as 4 years old, their
skin broken and palms callused from months of hauling granite, they
received food, clothes and medical care in the West African state of
Benin after being rescued from the traffickers who sold them into
heavy labor. On Sept. 27 authorities brought back 116 children who
had been put to work in the granite quarries of southwest Nigeria.
(AP, 10/16/03)
2003 Oct 24, Nigerian health
workers began an emergency drive to immunize some 15 million
children against polio. Some 192 cases were currently active.
(SFC, 10/24/03, p.A3)
2003 Oct, The Panama-registered
tanker African Pride, carrying 11,300 tons of crude oil, was boarded
by the Nigerian navy. The oil had allegedly been stolen by pirates
in the Niger Delta. 12 Russian sailors, two Romanians and a Georgian
were imprisoned in Nigeria. 2 naval admirals were prosecuted and
dismissed after the Greek-owned ship disappeared following its
seizure. In 2005 a Nigerian court agreed to free the sailors on
bail.
(AP, 8/5/05)
2003 Nov 4, In Nigeria pirates
armed with automatic rifles and dressed in camouflage fatigues
ambushed a police boat in the troubled oil delta. 5 officers were
missing and presumed killed.
(AP, 11/6/03)
2003 Nov 10, The US State Dept.
distanced itself from a congressional push to capture toppled
Liberian leader Charles Taylor in Nigeria via a $2 million reward.
(SFC, 11/15/03, p.A9)
2003 Nov 25, Nigeria's
President Olusegun Obasanjo said he will surrender ousted Liberian
leader Charles Taylor to face a war crimes trial if Liberia asks.
(AP, 11/25/03)
2003 Dec 2, Nigeria dismissed a
human rights report that accused the government of killing
opposition activists and stifling free speech, calling the charges
"jaundiced and misconceived."
(AP, 12/2/03)
2003 Dec 5, In Nigeria in the
opening session of the summit of Britain and its former colonies
British PM Tony Blair urged African leaders not to lift Zimbabwe's
suspension from the Commonwealth.
(AP, 12/5/03)
2003 Dec 7, Zimbabwe pulled out
of the Commonwealth rather than endure a suspension after members in
Nigeria decided to extend the southern African country's suspension
from the organization of Britain and its former colonies.
(AP, 12/7/03)
2003 Dec 8, In Nigeria the
Commonwealth summit of 54-nations, representing nearly one-third of
the world's 6 billion people, ended with Western nations blaming
Zimbabwe for its own growing international isolation.
(AP, 12/8/03)
2003 Nigeria banned trafficking
in humans and set up an agency to curb it.
(Econ, 4/24/04, p.45)
2003 Nigeria’s Pres. Obasanjo
created a financial-crimes investigation unit. Nuhu Ribadu was
appointed as the antifraud czar.
(WSJ, 4/13/05, p.A1)
2004 Jan 3, Nigeria said it had
routed a newly emerged Muslim militant movement fighting to create
an Islamic state in Africa's most populous nation. 2 weeks of
running gunbattles had killed at least eight people.
(AP, 1/3/04)
2004 Jan 28, Nigeria said North
Korea had agreed to share its missile technology. Nigerian VP
Atiku Abubakar reached the accord with Yang Hyong Sop, the visiting
VP of North Korea's Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly.
Nigeria rejected the offer under US pressure.
(AP, 1/28/04)(WSJ, 2/4/04, p.A1)
2004 Jan 30, A 25-30 seat
passenger plane plunged into the Atlantic Ocean off Lagos, Nigeria.
(AP, 1/30/04)
2004 Jan, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala,
a former World Bank director and Nigeria’s new finance minister,
promised that the civil service would be cut by 40%, and that top
bureaucrats would have to pass exams.
(Econ, 2/28/04, p.46)
2004 Feb 6, Nigeria ordered an
investigation into allegations that a Halliburton Co. subsidiary
paid $180 million in bribes to land a natural gas project
(1995-2002), while US Vice President Dick Cheney was head of
Halliburton.
(AP, 2/6/04)(WSJ, 2/5/04, p.A6)
2004 Feb 22, An Islamic state
in Nigeria that is at the heart of a spreading Africa polio outbreak
declared it would not relent on its boycott of a mass vaccination
program which it called a U.S. plot to spread AIDS and infertility
among Muslims.
(AP, 2/22/04)
2004 Feb 23, The World Health
Organization launched a massive immunization campaign targeting 63
million children in 10 African countries as a polio outbreak spread
from heavily Muslim northern Nigeria.
(AP, 2/21/04)
2004 Feb 24, In central Nigeria
suspected Muslim militants armed with guns and bows and arrows
killed at least 48 people in an attack on a farming village. Most of
the victims died as they sought refuge in a church.
(AP, 2/25/04)
2004 Mar 9, A shootout between
unidentified gunmen and government troops in Nigeria's oil city of
Warri killed five people, including one soldier. Separately an
overturned candle ignited a fire that raged through a shantytown in
Lagos.
(AP, 3/10/04)
2004 Mar 22, Oil giant Royal
Dutch/Shell said it plans to streamline its operations in Nigeria.
An estimated 1,500 people, or about 30 percent of its work force of
about 5,000, will be laid off.
(AP, 3/22/04)
2004 Mar 27, Tens of thousands
of security forces guarded voting stations as Nigerians cast ballots
in tense municipal elections.
(AP, 3/27/04)
2004 Mar, In Lagos, Nigeria, a
fire destroyed the 11-story food and drug administration building
(Nafdac). 2 days later a Nafdaq lab in Abuja was burned. Criminal
gangs linked to drug counterfeiters were suspected.
(WSJ, 5/28/04, p.A5)
2004 Apr 22, In Nigeria rival
militias threatened to escalate an ethnic conflict in Nigeria's oil
delta, where 10 people were killed this week in an attack on a boat
full of market vendors.
(AP, 4/22/04)
2004 Apr 23, In Nigeria a
speedboat full of gunmen attacked a boat carrying oil workers in the
delta region. 2 Americans and 4 others were killed.
(AP, 4/24/04)(SSFC, 4/25/04, p.A3)
2004 May 2-2004 May 4, In
Nigeria Tarok fighters, a predominantly Christian tribe, attacked
Yelwa, a town dominated by Hausa, a rival Muslim ethnic group,
razing homes and mosques and killing 500-600 people in 2 attacks
over the last 3 days.
(AP, 5/6/04)(SFC, 5/7/04, p.A9)
2004 May 6, In Nigeria
lawmakers in the mostly Islamic Kano state approved a law calling
for Muslims to be whipped and Christians to be jailed if they are
caught drinking alcohol.
(AP, 5/8/04)
2004 May 11, In Nigeria angry
young Muslim men attacked "nonbelievers" with machetes in Kano,
while others burned cars, stores and apartments in apparent revenge
for last week's killings of hundreds of Muslims by a Christian
group.
(AP, 5/11/04)
2004 May 12, In Nigeria Muslim
mobs in Kano attacked Christians and as many as 30 people were
killed.
(SFC, 5/13/04, p.A10)
2004 May 18, Nigeria's Pres.
Obasanjo declared a state of emergency in a troubled central state
on, invoking sweeping powers in a bid to halt religious and ethnic
bloodletting. Obasanjo sacked Gov. Joshua Dariye and dissolved the
legislature in the central state of Plateau.
(AP, 5/18/04)
2004 May 27, The Nigerian state
of Kano abandoned its moratorium on polio vaccinations.
(SFC, 5/28/04, p.A3)
2004 May 31, Nigeria’s
President Olusegun Obasanjo said that his country's
30-billion-dollar external debt was "burdensome, unsustainable and
unpayable" and appealed for leniency from its creditors.
(AP, 5/31/04)
2004 Jun 4, Nigerian troops
killed 17 armed bandits in oil-rich Delta state, as military
operations intensified to disarm criminals engaged in oil theft and
piracy in the Niger delta.
(Reuters, 6/5/04)
2004 Jun 9, In Nigeria unions
representing millions of workers launched a general strike over fuel
price hikes.
(AP, 6/9/04)
2004 Jun 9, In Nigeria
Christians battled Muslims in Abuja, burning homes and places of
worship in a dispute over construction of a mosque near a Christian
tribal leader's palace. Police confirmed nine deaths and witnesses
put the toll at more than 50.
(AP, 6/10/04)
2004 Jun 11, In Nigeria labor
groups representing millions of workers abandoned a crippling
three-day general strike.
(AP, 6/11/04)
2004 Jun 12, At least 14 people
were killed in Nigeria's oil-rich Delta state as vigilante mobs
hunted down suspected armed robbers, soaked them in petrol and then
set them alight.
(Reuters, 6/15/04)
2004 Jun 18, West African
defense chiefs agreed to create a 6,500-strong multinational force
to respond to "crisis and threats to peace" in the war-ravaged
region. The announcement followed a 2-day meeting in Abuja, Nigeria,
involving defense chiefs of staff from the 15 member nations of
ECOWAS.
(AP, 6/18/04)
2004 Jun 30, From Nigeria it
was reported that Alhaji Dokubo-Asari head of an ethnically diverse
mix of fighters who chiefly worship Egbesu, the traditional god of
war for ethnic Ijaw, was trying to wrest the oil-rich Niger Delta
away from multinational oil giants and the government, and put it
into the hands of "the people."
(AP, 7/1/04)
2004 Jul 11-14, Security forces
raided five villages in Nigeria's oil-rich southern delta, leaving
15 people dead and homes ransacked and burned.
(AP, 7/15/04)
2004 Aug 4, Police in eastern
Nigeria discovered skulls and corpses of at least 83 people in
shrines where a secretive cult was believed to have carried out
traditional ritual killings. 30 shamans were arrested in a part of
Anambra state called “the evil forest.”
(AP, 8/5/04)(WSJ, 8/6/04, p.A1)(CP, 8/13/04)
2004 Aug 12, In northeastern
Nigeria flash floods have submerged houses and farms, drowning at
least 23 people as they slept and forcing more than 1,000 to flee
their villages.
(AP, 8/12/04)
2004 Aug 16, In Nigeria an oil
tanker truck went out of control and plowed into a bustling Nigerian
market in Kano, killing 17.
(AP, 8/16/04)
2004 Aug 24, The Nigerian
Senate ordered Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell to pay 1.5 billion
dollars (1.2 billion euros) compensation for damages caused by
nearly 60 years of exploration in the Niger Delta.
(AFP, 8/25/04)
2004 Sep 9, Nigerian troops
battled militia forces in the mangrove swamps of Africa's leading
oil region, the Niger Delta. The offensive has forced refugees to
stream into the Port Harcourt.
(AP, 9/9/04)
2004 Sep 16, In Nigeria an oil
pipeline exploded near Lagos as thieves tried to siphon oil from it,
sparking a fire that killed at least 30 people.
(AP, 9/17/04)
2004 Sep 21, In northern
Nigeria Islamic militants fighting to create a Taliban-style state
launched their first attacks since January, assaulting two police
stations in the northeast and killing six people.
(AP, 9/23/04)
2004 Sep 23, In northern
Nigeria a gunbattle between security forces and Islamic militants
fighting to create a Taliban-style state left 29 people dead, most
of them militants.
(AP, 9/24/04)
2004 Sep 27, In Nigeria
militiamen trying to wrest control of the oil-rich Niger Delta
threatened to launch a "full-scale armed struggle" on
petroleum-pumping operations in Africa's largest crude oil producing
nation.
(AP, 9/28/04)(WSJ, 9/28/04, p.A1)
2004 Sep 28, Virgin Group boss
Richard Branson has signed an agreement with Nigerian President
Olusegun Obasanjo to launch a new airline out of the west African
nation that will be majority owned by Nigerian investors.
(AP, 9/28/04)
2004 Sep 29, Nigeria reached a
truce with Alhaji Dokubo-Asari, head of an ethnically diverse mix of
fighters, that threatened a war in the Niger Delta.
(WSJ, 9/30/04, p.A1)(Econ, 10/2/04, p.45)
2004 Oct 8, In northeast
Nigeria Islamist rebels attacked a major police patrol taking a
number of hostages in a remote area near the Cameroonian border.
(AFP, 10/9/04)
2004 Oct 11, In Nigeria a
nationwide strike to protest fuel price hikes shut down Lagos.
(AP, 10/11/04)
2004 Oct 14, Nigerian unions
called off a general strike which had jeopardized oil supplies from
the world's seventh largest exporter for four days.
(Reuters, 10/14/04)
2004 Oct 26, In Nigeria a 2nd
day of peace talks on the crisis in Sudan's Darfur region broke off
after rebels called for more time to prepare proposals for a
long-term political resolution to the conflict.
(AP, 10/26/04)
2004 Oct 27, Nigeria's
state-owned news agency reported that an outbreak of measles in a
remote Nigerian village had killed a dozen people. Sub-Saharan
Africa accounts for 500,000 deaths from measles every year.
(AP, 10/27/04)
2004 Oct 28, Five policemen
working for Nigeria's anti-drug enforcement agency were among 7
people killed by a mob that mistook them for armed robbers in a
remote northern village.
(AP, 10/29/04)
2004 Oct 31, In Nigeria unions
declared the top oil multinational here, Royal Dutch/Shell, "an
enemy of the Nigerian people" and called a Nov. 16 nationwide
strike.
(AP, 11/1/04)
2004 Nov 10, An Islamic court
in northern Nigeria threw out a death by stoning sentence against a
pregnant 18-year-old girl who had been condemned for adultery.
(AP, 11/10/04)
2004 Nov 12, Nigerian President
Olusegun Obasanjo attempted to calm labor discontent ahead of a
planned general strike, saying he would order the reduction of
kerosene prices.
(AP, 11/12/04)
2004 Nov 15, Nigeria ordered
immediate cuts in domestic fuel prices, trying to avert a looming
general strike.
(AP, 11/15/04)
2004 Nov 15, Nigeria's main
labor union indefinitely suspended a looming countrywide strike that
had threatened to shut down the oil industry.
(AP, 11/15/04)
2004 Nov 20, In Ojobo, Nigeria,
a protest at an oil rig operated by Shell left 7 people dead.
(SFC, 12/10/04, p.A23)
2004 Nov, In Nigeria thugs
burned down the main government building in the state capital of
Anambra and shot at the governor.
(Econ, 1/29/05, p.45)
2004 Dec 5, In Nigeria hundreds
of protesters besieged two oil platforms run by Royal Dutch/Shell
Group Cos. and ChevronTexaco Corp. in the southern oil region,
shutting down production of 90,000 barrels of oil a day.
(AP, 12/6/04)
2004 Dec 7, Nigerian villagers
lifted their blockade of three oil pumping stations in the volatile
Niger Delta after energy giants Shell and ChevronTexaco agreed to
discuss funding local development projects.
(AP, 12/7/04)
2004 Dec 13, In Nigeria the
first face-to-face working meeting between Sudan government and
Darfur rebel negotiators began. Cease-fire violations were on the
rise in Sudan's bloodied Darfur region and the fighting was
"poisoning" peace talks.
(AP, 12/13/04)
2004 Dec 22, Thieves stealing
fuel from a pipeline in Nigeria set it ablaze as they fled from
police, and at least 20 people died in the fire.
(AP, 12/23/04)
2004 Charles Soludo, governor
of the Central Bank of Nigeria, ordered banks to raise their minimum
capital base 12-fold.
(Econ, 6/11/05, p.71)
2005 Jan 1, Nigeria was
forecast for 2.6% annual GDP growth with a population at 139.8
million and GDP per head at $380.
(Econ, 1/8/05, p.94)
2005 Jan 8, Nigerian President
Olusegun Obasanjo flew to Sudan's troubled Darfur region to assess
the crisis there following talks with his Sudanese counterpart Omar
al-Beshir.
(AP, 1/8/05)
2005 Jan 10, Canada and Nigeria
agreed to terms under which the Canadian International Development
Agency is to provide 24.9 million Canadian dollars (20.4 million US)
for health projects in the west African country.
(AP, 1/11/05)
2005 Jan 12, Nigeria made
public plans to build a second $6-billion liquefied natural gas
(LNG) plant in the southwestern state of Ondo.
(AFP, 1/13/05)
2005 Jan 19, In Nigeria a fuel
tanker crashed into two buses and burst into flames on a road in
Lagos, killing at least 30 people.
(AP, 1/20/05)
2005 Jan 30, UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan, at a summit of the 53-member African Union in
Abuja, Nigeria, urged pan-African cooperation to resolve conflicts.
(AFP, 1/30/05)
2005 Jan 31, In Nigeria African
leaders pledged to send more peacekeeping troops to conflict zones,
especially the western Sudan region of Darfur, and to boost their
role in world affairs.
(AP, 2/1/05)
2005 Feb 4, The Nigerian army
quelled a demonstration at one of Nigeria's main oil export
terminals, while activists accused the soldiers of killing four
protesters.
(AP, 2/4/05)
2005 Feb 10, Togo turned away a
plane carrying Nigerian peacemakers, drawing threats of sanctions
and accusations from Nigeria that it was blocking efforts to resolve
a crisis widely condemned as a military coup.
(Reuters, 2/11/05)
2005 Feb 19, Nigerian soldiers,
sailors and police descended on Odioma to hunt down a local militia
leader and black magic guru who was accused of murdering 12 people
from Obiaku. 28 people killed and Odioma was burned down by
government troops.
(AP, 3/21/05)
2005 Feb 23, In northern
Nigeria hunters burning land to flush out game set fire to a
munitions dump, triggering a string of explosions which damaged
military buildings and spread panic in the city of Kaduna.
(AP, 2/24/05)
2005 Feb 28, African Union (AU)
chairman, Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo, met Sudan's first
vice president Ali Taha over the bloody crisis in Darfur region.
(AFP, 2/28/05)
2005 Mar 3, In Nigeria
thousands of rioters wielding sticks and broken bottles burned down
a police station in Makurdi, protesting the police killing of a bus
driver who apparently refused to pay a bribe equivalent to 14 cents.
(AP, 3/3/05)
2005 Mar 7, Authorities said
Nigerian police have rescued more than 100 children from child
traffickers over the last 3 days, including 56 discovered at a
checkpoint in a frozen food truck.
(Reuters, 3/7/05)
2005 Mar 8, The parliament of
Nigeria, Africa's most-indebted nation, passed a nonbinding
resolution demanding Nigeria stop repaying its $35 billion foreign
debt.
(AP, 3/9/05)
2005 Mar 21, It was reported
that measles in Nigeria had killed 529 people this year.
(WSJ, 3/21/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 22, Nigeria’s Pres.
Olusegun Obasanjo fired his education minister, Fabian Osuji,
accusing him of bribing lawmakers including the Senate leader
Adolphus Wabara and a string of other named senators of taking
bribes totaling $398,550.
(AP, 3/22/05)
2005 Mar 28, Tafa Balogun,
Nigeria’s Inspector General of Police, was arrested. He was later
charged with numerous counts including embezzling $93 million from
police funds.
(Econ, 8/20/05, p.37)(www.efccnigeria.org/)
2005 Mar 29, It was reported
that China’s influence in Africa was expanding rapidly. Chinese
projects included the rebuilding of Nigeria’s railroad network; the
paving of roads in Rwanda; ownership of copper mines in Zambia;
timber operations in Equatorial Guinea; and supermarket operations
in Lesotho.
(WSJ, 3/29/05, p.A1)
2005 Apr 8, ChevronTexaco Corp.
said it has awarded a $1.7 billion contract to build Nigeria's third
natural gas-to-liquids plant to a consortium including Halliburton
Co. subsidiary KBR.
(AP, 4/8/05)
2005 Apr 11, Britain imposed a
year-long ban on delivering first-time visas to Nigerians aged 18 to
30, citing a backlog of applications, most of which are rejected.
(AP, 4/11/05)
2005 May 3, ChevronTexaco's
Nigerian subsidiary said it would overhaul its aid projects in the
country's oil-rich south after finding much of the tens of millions
of dollars spent yearly was fueling violence and wasted by
corruption.
(AP, 5/4/05)
2005 May 5, President Bush met
with Nigerian Pres. Olusegun Obasanjo. They discussed oil and
Obasanjo said he would explore how to address US concerns that
former Liberian President Charles Taylor be brought to justice.
(AP, 5/5/05)
2005 May 10, A UN resolution
backed by the US urged Nigeria to hand Charles Taylor to a court in
Sierra Leone on the grounds that Taylor had violated his terms of
asylum.
(Econ, 5/14/05, p.52)
2005 May 17, In southeastern
Nigeria hundreds of youths stormed a police station and set fire to
cars after a protester was fatally shot by a police rifle.
(AP, 5/17/05)
2005 May, In Nigeria Mike Amadi
was sentenced to 16 years in prison for setting up a Web site that
offered juicy but phony procurement contracts. Amadi was caught by
an undercover agent posing as an Italian businessman.
(AP, 8/7/05)
2005 Jun 4, Hundreds of
activists gathered in southern Nigeria to rally support for an
opposition conference, backed by the Nobel prize-winning author Wole
Soyinka, to end ethnic and political violence in Africa's most
populous nation.
(AP, 6/4/05)
2005 Jun 8, In Nigeria 5 men
and one woman were shot dead in the poor Apo neighborhood Abuja.
Police initially said they were armed robbers caught in the act, but
an inquiry established that they were unarmed. In Dec Nigeria
apologized to the families of the people who were shot dead and
offered them 3 million naira ($22,600) each, setting a precedent in
a country where police brutality is a fact of daily life.
(Reuters, 12/03/05)
2005 Jun 15, A militant group
in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta region kidnapped 2 German and 4
Nigerian workers of a contractor firm providing service for
Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell.
(AP, 6/15/05)
2005 Jun 18, Militants in
southern Nigeria released six oil workers taken hostage by a group
demanding $20 million from Shell for local communities.
(AP, 6/18/05)
2005 Jun, The Trans-Sahara
Counter-Terrorism Initiative began operations. The US funded plan
intended to provide military equipment and development aid to 9
north-east African countries considered fertile ground for Muslim
militant groups. Participating countries included Algeria, Chad,
Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, and Tunisia.
(SFC, 12/27/05, p.A1)
2005 Jul 12, French company
Technip SA said it has been awarded a $800 million contract by
Chevron Corp. to develop its largest Nigerian oil project.
(AP, 7/12/05)
2005 Jul 16, In Lagos a court
convicted Amaka Anajemba, a Nigerian woman, of helping defraud a
Brazilian bank of $242 million in the country's biggest
international fraud case. She was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison
and ordered to give up $25.5 million in cash and assets. Banco
Noroeste of Sao Paolo, Brazil, was reportedly fleeced of some $242
million over seven years until 2001.
(AP, 7/17/05)
2005 Jul 24, In northern
Nigeria a long-haul passenger bus skidded off a bridge and tumbled
into a river after the driver fell asleep, and 56 people were
killed.
(AP, 7/24/05)
2005 Jul 26, A boat ferrying
passengers between remote villages sank in a southwestern Nigerian
river, killing at least 18 people.
(AP, 7/28/05)
2005 Jul 30, Rep. William
Jefferson, D-La., received $100,000 at the Ritz-Carlton in
Arlington, Virginia, to use for bribing Abubakar Atiku,
vice-president of Nigeria. Vernon Jackson, a Kentucky businessman,
later admitted to paying over $400,000 in bribes to secure deals for
his telecommunications company in Nigeria and other African
countries. Documents released in 2005 said an FBI informant recorded
a video of the transaction.
(SFC, 5/22/06, p.A3)
2005 Aug 1, In Nigeria
protesting Akabuka villagers demanding more jobs for their community
forced the Nigerian branch of Total SA to shut down the Obagi
onshore oil field.
(AP, 8/6/05)
2005 Aug 3, The FBI raided the
Maryland residence of Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar as part
of a probe into whether a US congressman made or approved payments
to officials in West Africa.
(AP, 8/28/05)
2005 Aug 18, Nigerian media
quoted Pres. Obasanjo as saying police violations "ranged from
extra-judicial killings to torture and unlawful detention." He
singled out an incident in June in which policemen in the capital,
Abuja, allegedly killed six people returning from a night outing
after branding them armed robbers. Six policemen were charged in the
killings. Among those accused is Danjuma Ibrahim, the second-ranking
policeman in the city.
(AP, 8/23/05)
2005 Aug 25, African ministers
and international donors unveiled a 1.1-billion-dollar (894 million
euro) strategy to boost catches, build fish farms and develop the
seafood sector after a high-level meeting of the New Partnership for
Africa’s Redevelopment (NEPAD) Fish for All Summit, in Abuja,
Nigeria.
(AP, 8/25/05)(www.nepad.org/)
2005 Aug, In Nigeria Amaka
Anajemba was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison and ordered to
return $25.5 million of the $242 million she helped to steal from a
Brazilian bank.
(AP, 8/7/05)
2005 Sep 5, Nigerian unions
dropped a threat to hold a nationwide general strike but instead
vowed to launch a series of mass street rallies to protest against
rising petrol prices.
(AFP, 9/5/05)
2005 Sep 15, British police
arrested Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, leader of the oil-rich
southern Nigerian state of Bayelsa, as part of a money laundering
investigation.
(AP, 9/16/05)
2005 Sep 20, In Nigeria dozens
of soldiers and police arrested Moujahid Dokubo-Asari, the main
militia leader in Nigeria's south, at his office in the oil city of
Port Harcourt. A militia with a history of violence in Nigeria's
oil-rich south threatened to blow up oil installations if the
government did not release its arrested leader.
(AP, 9/20/05)
2005 Sep 22, In Nigeria police
said Moujahid Dokubo-Asari, a separatist militia leader, will be
charged with treason, a capital offense. His arrest set off tense
protests in the oil heartland. Dokubo-Asari said his Ijaw ethnic
group and the other people of the Niger delta should break away from
Nigeria and take control of the billions of dollars of oil flowing
from their land.
(AP, 9/22/05)
2005 Sep 22, Boatloads of
Nigerian guerrilla fighters armed with rifles, machetes and dynamite
launched a drive to hijack oil installations in the waterways of the
Niger Delta, after a judge jailed their leader.
(AP, 9/23/05)
2005 Sep 28, In Nigeria 2 oil
workers, one Briton and the other from Ireland, were kidnapped in
the southern delta.
(Reuters, 9/29/05)
2005 Oct 4, In Nigeria at least
3 civilians were killed in crossfire and a Lagos police headquarters
was burned down after a dispute between armed police and soldiers
erupted in street fighting. Witnesses said that brawling broke out
after an army officer tried to prevent a police patrol extorting an
illegal 20 naira (seven cent) toll from a motorcycle taxi driver.
(AP, 10/5/05)
2005 Oct 8, Nigeria's financial
crimes agency said it had returned $4.5 million last month seized
from scammers to an 86-year-old Chinese woman.
(AP, 10/8/05)
2005 Oct 12, A build up of
pollution from factories and old cars caused a wave of smog that
enveloped much of Lagos, Nigeria's largest city.
(AP, 10/13/05)
2005 Oct 15, Nigeria and
Cameroon discussed a new program for Nigeria to withdraw from the
disputed Bakassi peninsula, but failed to set a new deadline after
two days of talks in Abuja.
(AP, 10/16/05)
2005 Oct 20, The Paris Club
announced and agreement to cancel 60% (about $18 billion) of
Nigeria's foreign debt. This fueled optimism among anti-poverty
campaigners, but corruption and requirements imposed by the West
overshadowed the future. Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, was
rated the sixth most corrupt nation in the world in a survey
released earlier this week by Berlin-based Transparency
International.
(AP, 10/21/05)
2005 Oct 22, In Nigeria a
passenger jet crashed shortly after takeoff from Lagos, killing all
117 on board.
(AP, 10/25/05)
2005 Oct 23, Stella Obasanjo
(59), the wife of Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, died after
undergoing liposuction surgery in Spain. In 2009 A court in Malaga
convicted plastic surgeon Antonio Mena Molina of negligent homicide.
He was given a suspended sentence of a year in jail, barred from
practicing medicine for three years, and ordered to pay euro120,000
($175,000) in damages to the woman's son.
(AP, 10/23/05)(AP, 9/22/09)
2005 Oct 27, Nigerian security
forces said they have detained three of the country's most powerful
militant leaders, as part of an apparent crackdown on the separatist
forces threatening to tear the country apart.
(AP, 10/27/05)
2005 Oct 30, Nigeria reported
that its inflation rate rose to 15.5% in the 12 months ending in
August, up 14.2% from the month before according to the Federal
Office of Statistics (FOS).
(AP, 10/30/05)
2005 Oct, Oando, a Nigerian
energy group, became the first company from another African country
to be listed on the Johannesburg stock exchange (JSE).
(Econ, 6/10/06, p.72)
2005 Nov 12, Africa Union
leaders from Algeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa and
Senegal met in Abuja for a 2-day summit titled: "Africa and the
challenges of the global order: Desirability of union government,"
with the leaders discussing the broad principles of integration.
(AFP, 11/12/05)
2005 Nov 14, It was reported
that India's top oil exploration firm, Oil & Natural Gas Corp.,
and the world's largest steel maker, the Netherlands-based Mittal
Group, planned to build an oil refinery in Nigeria. They offered to
invest another $6 billion in building a power plant and railroads
there.
(AP, 11/14/05)
2005 Nov 14, In northern
Nigeria 12 children were trampled to death as panicked pupils fled
what they thought was a fire in their school at Kaduna.
(AP, 11/15/05)
2005 Nov 21, British
authorities said Diepreye Alamieyeseigha (1953), the governor of
Nigeria’s oil-rich state Bayelsa, has skipped bail and returned
home. He had been arrested and charged in Britain for laundering
millions.
(AP, 11/21/05)
2005 Nov 23, In Nigeria a
Bayelsa state government spokesman said an impeachment notice has
been filed against Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, who skipped
bail in London, accusing him of money laundering, holding illegal
foreign bank accounts, corruptly enriching his family and
misappropriating public funds among other offenses.
(AP, 11/23/05)
2005 Nov 28, In Nigeria
hundreds of troops armed with rocket launchers and machine guns
manned check points in the oil-producing Bayelsa state as protesters
staged rival rallies over the impeachment of the state governor.
(AP, 11/28/05)
2005 Nov 29, A Sudanese Darfur
rebel faction said it attacked a town in West Darfur state, killing
37 soldiers and police, to push for its inclusion in peace talks due
to open in the Nigerian capital Abuja later in the day.
(AP, 11/29/05)
2005 Dec 2, In Nigeria rebel
leaders from the western Sudanese region of Darfur rejected an
African Union draft agreement on power-sharing between their forces
and the government in Khartoum, pushing the sides' seventh session
of peace talks close to stalemate.
(AFP, 12/02/05)
2005 Dec 5, In southeastern
Nigeria Separatist protesters demanding authorities release their
leader shut down businesses and banks, and an activist said security
forces opened fire on the crowd, killing three people.
(AP, 12/05/05)
2005 Dec 6, Separatist radicals
faced off against heavily-armed Nigerian police in eastern cities as
a protest to demand an independent homeland for the
40-million-strong Igbo people entered its second day.
(AFP, 12/06/05)
2005 Dec 9, In Nigeria Diepreye
Alamieyeseigha, the governor of the oil-rich state of Bayelsa who
skipped bail in Britain to escape trial there for money-laundering,
was arrested by 200 armed policemen, after lawmakers removed his
immunity from prosecution.
(AFP, 12/09/05)
2005 Dec 9, In Nigeria police
broke down the gate of a huge housing complex to oust thousands of
civil servants and their families in the third mass eviction by the
government this week in the commercial capital of Lagos. The move
followed a decision by the government to sell off several publicly
owned housing blocks for civil servants in a privatization scheme.
Authorities have not provided the estimated 8,000 residents with
other accommodation.
(AP, 12/09/05)
2005 Dec 10, Nigeria’s Sosoliso
Airlines Flight 1145 carrying 110 passengers crashed while landing
during a storm in the southern city of Port Harcourt. Some 107
people were killed including 71 children. The runway lights were off
because the airport had not bought a generator.
(AP, 12/10/05)(AFP, 12/12/05)(WSJ, 10/1/07, p.A1)
2005 Dec 18, Nigeria grounded
Boeing 737 planes across the country for safety checks, stranding
thousands of travelers after two deadly accidents in two months.
(AP, 12/18/05)
2005 Dec 20, The impeached
governor of a Nigerian oil-exporting state faces charges of stealing
$55 million in public funds, according to a charge sheet produced in
court by Nigeria's anti-corruption agency.
(Reuters, 12/20/05)
2005 Dec 20, In southern
Nigeria attackers blew up a Royal Dutch Shell PLC pipeline carrying
crude oil across, killing at least eight people and cutting crude
production in Africa's oil giant.
(AP, 12/20/05)
2005 Dec 21, In Nigeria
Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell announced the closure of a third
flowstation, following the alleged sabotage of a pipeline, bringing
a loss in crude oil production to 180,000 barrels per day (bpd).
(AFP, 12/21/05)
2005 Dec 29, Authorities said
Mohammed Marwa, a former official in Nigeria's junta, has been
detained as part of a corruption probe in what was the first arrest
and questioning of a top official in the former ruling military
regime.
(AP, 12/29/05)
2005 The CD "I Go Chop Your
Dollars," penned by Nigerian artist Osofia, became a hugely popular
hit in Lagos. It also became the anthem of Nigeria’s 419
internet scam artists.
(LAT, 10/20/05)
2006 Jan 6, Nigeria’s
government anti-AIDS agency said it will double the number of
centers where AIDS patients can get free drugs in the next three
months as part of a major drive to widen access to treatment.
(Reuters, 1/6/06)
2006 Jan 8, Nigeria's
multi-billion-dollar liquefied natural gas company Nigeria NLNG said
it had shipped the first cargo of gas from its fourth production
plant to the US.
(AFP, 1/8/06)
2006 Jan 11, In Nigeria gunmen
stormed an offshore oil platform run Royal Dutch Shell and kidnapped
four foreign oil workers. The Movement for the Emancipation of the
Nigerian Delta (MEND) claimed responsibility. The four were freed
nearly three weeks later.
(Econ, 1/21/06, p.47)(AP, 1/11/07)
2006 Jan 14, Sadatu Abubakar
Rimi, the wife of a senior Nigerian opposition figure, was hacked to
death in the early hours by suspected hired assassins.
(Reuters, 1/14/06)
2006 Jan 15, Separatist gunmen
shot dead several Nigerian troops and overran an oil plant run by
the Anglo-Dutch Shell, amid fears for the safety of four kidnapped
foreign workers. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Nigerian
Delta (MEND) claimed responsibility. MEND told Shell to pay $1.5
billion to the state of Bayelsa for pollution it said Shell has
caused.
(AFP, 1/15/06)(Econ, 1/21/06, p.47)
2006 Jan 19, Nigerian
kidnappers said their US hostage was gravely ill and threatened to
kill three other foreign oil workers held captive if he died.
(AP, 1/20/06)
2006 Jan 21, In Nigeria, a
police spokesman said 14 suspects have been arrested following
clashes in Lagos earlier this week in which three people were
killed.
(AP, 1/21/06)
2006 Jan 24, In Port Harcourt,
Nigeria, an armed gang dressed in police uniform attacked the
offices of Agip oil company, a unit of Italy's ENI, and at least 9
people were killed.
(AP, 1/24/06)
2006 Jan 30, In Nigeria 4
foreign oil workers were released after being held hostage for more
than two weeks by a militia demanding that residents in southern
Nigeria benefit more from its energy wealth.
(AP, 1/30/06)
2006 Feb 8, The World
Organization for Animal Health said the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus
has been detected on a large commercial chicken farm in Nigeria, the
first reported outbreak in Africa. Researchers later reported that 3
different strains of bird flu had entered Nigeria and most closely
resembled those identified in Egypt, Mongolia and Russia.
(AP, 2/8/06)(SFC, 7/6/06, p.A6)
2006 Feb 9, Health authorities
imposed a quarantine on poultry farms across northern Nigeria. 2
more states reported cases of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus.
(AP, 2/9/06)(SFC, 2/10/06, p.A8)
2006 Feb 18, In Nigeria armed
militants carried out a wave of attacks across the troubled Niger
delta, blowing up oil and gas pipelines and seizing nine foreign oil
workers: 3 Americans, a Briton, 2 Egyptians, 2 Thais and one
Filipino. Royal Dutch Shell suspended exports from the 380,000
barrel-a-day Forcados terminal after militants bombed the tanker
loading platform.
(Reuters, 2/18/06)
2006 Feb 18, Nigerian Muslims
protesting caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad attacked Christians
and burned churches, killing at least 15 people in the deadliest
confrontation yet in the whirlwind of Muslim anger over the
drawings.
(AP, 2/19/06)
2006 Feb 20, In Nigeria
militants in southern Nigeria destroyed an oil pipeline and blew up
a boat in violence that has cut about 20 percent of crude production
in Africa's oil giant.
(AP, 2/20/06)
2006 Feb 21, Christian mobs
rampaged through the southern Nigerian city of Onitsha, burning
mosques and killing several people in an outbreak of anti-Muslim
violence that followed deadly protests against caricatures of the
Prophet Muhammad over the weekend.
(AP, 2/21/06)
2006 Feb 22, In Nigeria at
least 20 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in the eastern Nigerian
city of Onitsha. Gangs of rioters armed with machetes and shotguns
poured through the streets of the mainly Christian southern city as
the death toll from days of Christian-Muslim violence across Nigeria
rose to at least 93.
(AP, 2/22/06)(Reuters, 2/22/06)(SFC, 2/23/06,
p.A13)
2006 Feb 23, Christians in the
southern Nigerian city of Onitsha burned Muslim corpses and defaced
wrecked mosques, showing little repentance after days of sectarian
violence that has killed more than 120 people across the country.
(AP, 2/23/06)
2006 Feb 24, Christian youths
armed with machetes, stones and clubs attacked Muslims in the
southeastern Nigerian city of Enugu. A Reuters witness saw a mob
beat one man to death. Sectarian violence spread to three more
Nigerian cities, claiming at least seven lives and pushing up the
death toll in days of killings to at least 127.
(Reuters, 2/24/06)(AP, 2/24/06)
2006 Feb 24, A Nigerian court
ordered Royal Dutch Shell PLC to pay southern communities $1.5
billion (1.2 billion euros) in compensation for environmental
pollution and degradation in the oil-rich Niger Delta. Shell
appealed against the court's decision.
(AFP, 2/25/06)
2006 Feb 25, In northern
Nigeria 35 were killed and five were injured when two buses collided
head-on and caught fire at Kwarna-Jagga in Jigawa state.
(Reuters, 2/27/06)
2006 Feb 28, Nigerian
separatist militants stormed a tanker ship working in the Niger
Delta and took a large sum of cash, 12 days after they kidnapped
nine foreign oil workers from another vessel. The insurgent
spokesman said the tanker captain had parted with 500,000 naira as a
"goodwill token" during the encounter, although a shipping industry
source put the sum at two million naira (15,500 dollars / 13,000
euros).
(AFP, 3/1/06)
2006 Mar 1, In Nigeria
militants released six foreign oil workers, including a diabetic
Texan celebrating his 69th birthday, taken captive last month to
press fighters' demands for a greater share of oil revenues
generated in this restive southern state.
(AP, 3/1/06)
2006 Mar 5, Nigerian militants
threatened to halve the country's oil output by cutting another one
million barrels a day this month in their campaign to gain more
autonomy for the southern delta region.
(Reuters, 3/5/06)
2006 Mar 6, Nigeria unveiled
details of spending plans in its record 14.8-billion-dollar
(12.3-billion-euro) federal budget and made ambitious predictions
for strong economic growth.
(AP, 3/6/06)
2006 Mar 7, A four-year-old
Indonesian boy became the latest suspected human casualty of bird
flu as the virus spread in Nigeria and Poland. A Russian virus
expert warned that a human pandemic was highly likely and told the
government to get ready.
(AFP, 3/7/06)
2006 Mar 8, In Nigeria
government sources said the head of the Nigerian military in the
oil-producing Niger Delta has been removed from his post on
suspicion of involvement in the theft of crude oil. Militants killed
at least 5 soldiers in a firefight during an attack by the army in
the southern Niger Delta.
(Reuters, 3/9/06)(AFP, 3/9/06)
2006 Mar 13, In Nigeria and
official report said ethnic and religious fighting, land disputes
and communal conflicts have driven more than three million Nigerians
from their homes since the return to democracy in 1999.
(Reuters, 3/13/06)
2006 Mar 17, Liberia said it
has asked Nigeria to hand over former Pres. Charles Taylor, who is
living there in exile and wanted on war crimes charges for his role
in Sierra Leone's civil war.
(AP, 3/17/06)
2006 Mar 21, Nigeria launched
its first census for 15 years. Residents remained indoors on
government orders on the first day of the controversial census.
(AP, 3/21/06)
2006 Mar 22, In Nigeria heavy
winds ripped away much of the top nine floors of a fire-weakened
building in Lagos, raining debris on mostly empty streets and
leaving people on lower floors waving frantically for help.
(AP, 3/22/06)
2006 Mar 22, A ferry carrying
150 passengers sank off the coast of Cameroon, and 23 people were
rescued. The rest were feared dead. The was bound for Gabon from
Nigeria with passengers from Burkina Faso, Nigeria and the Ivory
Coast.
(AP, 3/23/06)(SFC, 3/24/06, p.A12)
2006 Mar 23, Human rights
campaigners said Nigerian separatists have attacked census officials
with acid and machetes in a violent campaign for the southeastern
region to boycott the headcount. A violent start to Nigeria’s first
census in 15 years left at least 10 dead and scores of others
injured.
(AP, 3/23/06)
2006 Mar 25, Nigeria said it
will send back to Liberia exiled ex-president and one-time warlord
Charles Taylor, wanted for trial on war crimes by a UN-backed court.
(AP, 3/25/06)
2006 Mar 25, Nigeria announced
a two-day extension of a controversial census to allow for everyone
in Africa's most populous nation to be counted despite delays caused
by poor organization and violence.
(AP, 3/25/06)
2006 Mar 27, In Nigeria a
weeklong census ended as workers scrambled to tally everyone across
Africa's most-populous nation, but many remained uncounted in the
exercise, marred by violence and the lack of forms, census takers
and money.
(AP, 3/27/06)
2006 Mar 27, Militants
demanding control of revenues from Nigeria's oil-rich southern delta
released their last remaining foreign hostages, two Americans and a
Briton, but the group threatened to continue attacks on oil
installations.
(AP, 3/27/06)
2006 Mar 28, Officials said
former Liberian President Charles Taylor disappeared from his
Nigerian haven, days after his hosts agreed to transfer him to a war
crimes tribunal for the murder, rape and maiming of more than a
half-million Africans. Taylor was arrested trying to cross the
border into Cameroon. He then was flown back to Liberia.
(AP, 3/28/06)(AP, 3/29/06)
2006 Apr 8, In Nigeria at least
a dozen people drowned when an overcrowded dugout canoe capsized in
a remote creek in the delta region. 5 employees of a contractor to
US oil company Chevron were among the dead. Nigerian newspapers said
at least 20 people died, adding 12 bodies had been recovered.
(AP, 4/10/06)
2006 Apr 10-2006 Apr 12, About
25 people were killed in three days of skirmishes between two
Nigerian tribes over ownership of land in the central state of
Plateau.
(Reuters, 4/13/06)
2006 Apr 18, Nigeria said it
plans to build a $1.8 billion highway and create jobs to address the
crises in the Niger Delta. Militants dismissed the efforts as
insufficient.
(WSJ, 4/19/06, p.A1)
2006 Apr 19, Nigerian militants
killed two people in a car bomb attack on an army barracks in the
southern city of Port Harcourt, extending a four-month onslaught
against the world's eighth largest oil exporter.
(Reuters, 4/20/06)
2006 Apr 27, In Nigeria
President Hu Jintao said China wants a "strategic partnership" with
Africa, seeking to add a new political dimension to a blossoming
economic romance. China agreed to commit $4 billion for
infrastructure in exchange for 4 oil drilling licenses.
(Reuters, 4/27/06)(WSJ, 4/27/06, p.A1)
2006 Apr 29, A car bombing in
the Nigerian oil city of Warri destroyed at least five tanker
trucks. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND),
which demands more local control over the southern delta's oil
wealth, said it had used a mobile phone to detonate 30 kg (66 lb) of
dynamite in the bombing.
(Reuters, 4/30/06)
2006 May 10, In southern
Nigeria a gunman riding a motorcycle shot to death an American oil
worker on his way to the office.
(AP, 5/11/06)
2006 May 11, In Nigeria gunmen
kidnapped at least two foreign oil workers from a bus in the
southern city of Port Harcourt.
(AP, 5/11/06)
2006 May 12, In southwestern
Nigeria a ruptured pipeline exploded as villagers rushed to collect
oil gushing from it and a local TV station said up to 200 people
were feared dead. Militants threatened to destroy NLNG, a $13
billion natural gas export plant.
(AP, 5/12/06)
2006 May 16, The Nigerian
Senate rejected a constitutional amendment that would have allowed
President Olusegun Obasanjo to run for a third term in office in
2007.
(AFP, 5/16/06)
2006 May 19, Nigeria sold to a
state-owned Chinese group licenses to explore four oil blocks,
underlining Beijing's increasing drive for energy resources. In
exchange for the drilling rights, China agreed to invest two billion
dollars in northern Nigeria's Kaduna refinery. The Movement for the
Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), rejected the claim and described
the allocation as a "bribe".
(AFP, 5/19/06)
2006 May 21, In Nigeria rock
star and activist Bono told African finance ministers that the
recent goodwill of wealthy industrialized countries toward Africa
could dissipate unless the continent tackles corruption.
(Reuters, 5/21/06)
2006 May 29, In southwestern
Nigeria a truck hauling iron rods lost control and crashed into
several roadside buses as passengers were boarding, killing at least
30 people.
(AP, 5/30/06)
2006 May, In Nigeria 30 men
stormed the headquarters of the National Agency for the Prohibition
of Traffic in Persons in Abuja, destroying filing cabinets and boxes
of documents. The same month, an investigator was murdered.
(AP, 9/30/06)
2006 Jun 1, In southern Nigeria
a major oil spill forced Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell to cut
production by 50,000 barrels per day.
(AFP, 6/1/06)
2006 Jun 2, Norwegian rig owner
Fred. Olsen Energy ASA said 8 foreign workers on an oil rig
operating off Nigeria were kidnapped overnight. The workers, six
British, one American and one Canadian, were aboard the drilling rig
Bulford Dolphin when it was attacked during the night.
(AP, 6/2/06)
2006 Jun 4, In Nigeria 8
foreign oil workers, kidnapped on June 2, were released. Police
declined to say whether a ransom was paid and did not say who was
responsible for the hostage-taking.
(AP, 6/4/06)
2006 Jun 7, In southern Nigeria
gunmen kidnapped five South Koreans in an overnight raid on a gas
plant owned by Shell. 10 soldiers were killed in the raid.
(AP, 6/7/06)(WSJ, 6/8/06, p.A1)
2006 Jun 8, In Nigeria
militants released one Nigerian and five South Korean gas workers
after a plea from the jailed militant leader in whose name they were
abducted.
(AP, 6/8/06)
2006 Jun 16, In southeast
Nigeria at least six people were killed in the city of Onitsha when
a feud between a separatist group and a transport union degenerated
into street battles.
(AP, 6/17/06)
2006 Jun 19, In Onitsha,
Nigeria, 204 prison inmates were set free by the "hoodlums" who
invaded the building at around 2:00 am. The attack on Onitsha prison
came less than 24 hours after troops were deployed and a curfew
imposed on the troubled city. Clashes between the banned Movement
for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), a
separatist group, and police were reported to have left several
people dead at the weekend.
(AP, 6/20/06)
2006 Jun 20, Two Filipino oil
workers were kidnapped near the Nigerian oil city of Port Harcourt
in the southern Niger Delta.
(AFP, 6/20/06)
2006 Jun 21, Nigeria’s Pres.
Olusegun removed Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala from the finance ministry and
installed her as the foreign minister.
(Econ, 2/28/04,
p.46)(http://people.africadatabase.org/en/person/16262.html)
2006 Jun 25, Two Filipino oil
workers, kidnapped in Nigeria's southern oil delta, were released
after five days in captivity.
(AP, 6/25/06)
2006 Jun 26, Nigerian
authorities re-arrested Gbenga Arulegba, the presenter of a
political TV program, and charged him with sedition over a show
critical of the president.
(Reuters, 6/27/06)
2006 Jul 6, In Nigeria a Dutch
oil worker was kidnapped by armed men from a Royal Dutch Shell gas
plant. He was released July 10.
(AP, 7/6/06)(AP, 7/10/06)
2006 Jul 12, In Nigeria 2
explosions hit oil installations belonging to an Italian oil company
along two Agip pipelines in Baleysa state.
(AP, 7/13/06)
2006 Jul 17, Nigeria signed a
deal with the Clinton Foundation to make cheap AIDS drugs available
to fight the disease.
(AFP, 7/17/06)
2006 Jul 19, In Nigeria a
4-story apartment building collapsed overnight in Lagos. Red Cross
officials confirmed that at least 24 people were killed.
(AFP, 7/20/06)
2006 Aug 4, In southern Nigeria
3 Filipinos working for a US construction firm were kidnapped, a day
after a German was abducted in the same region.
(AP, 8/4/06)
2006 Aug 9, Two Norwegians and
two Ukrainians were kidnapped at gunpoint from an oil services ship
off the coast of Nigeria.
(Reuters, 8/9/06)
2006 Aug 10, In southern
Nigeria gunmen in military fatigues seized two foreign oil workers.
A Belgian and a Moroccan were abducted as they traveled through the
city of Port Harcourt taking to at least 10 the number kidnapped in
the past week.
(AP, 8/10/06)
2006 Aug 12, Nigeria pulled
thousands of troops out of the Bakassi peninsula ahead of an August
12 UN deadline for a complete withdrawal, but many residents said
they would resist a handover to Cameroon.
(AP, 8/13/06)
2006 Aug 14, Nigeria formally
handed sovereignty over the potentially oil-rich Bakassi peninsula
to Cameroon after withdrawing its 3,000 troops in compliance with a
UN-brokered deadline. This ended a 13-year feud between Abuja and
Yaounde. Nigeria will maintain administrative control of southern
Bakassi for the next two years, after which the area will be in a
state of flux for another five years before it will be finally
handed over to Cameroon.
(AP, 8/13/06)(AFP, 8/14/06)
2006 Aug 14, In Nigeria Ayo
Daramola, a member of the country's ruling party and a potential
candidate in Ekiti state, was found stabbed to death in his home,
the third killing of a potential gubernatorial candidate in recent
weeks. Armed men kidnapped four more foreign oil workers in the
southern oil city of Port Harcourt, but released 3 Filipinos
abducted more than 10 days ago.
(AFP, 8/14/06)(AP, 8/15/06)
2006 Aug 15, Two Norwegian and
two Ukrainian oil workers being held hostage in Nigeria were freed
as the government promised to crack down on a surge in unrest in
Africa's largest oil producer.
(Reuters, 8/15/06)
2006 Aug 18, Nigeria’s military
launched a crackdown on suspected militants in the oil-rich south as
militants released another foreign hostage taken in a spate of
kidnappings.
(AP, 8/18/06)
2006 Aug 19, In Nigeria
government troops arrested about 100 people in a search for
militants suspected of taking oil industry workers hostage in the
petroleum-rich south.
(AP, 8/20/06)
2006 Aug 20, At least 11 people
were killed when militants engaged Nigerian troops in a fierce gun
battle in the restive Niger Delta. Local press reports said 12
people, 10 militants, a Shell worker and a soldier, were killed
during the shootout.
(AFP, 8/22/06)
2006 Aug 21, In Nigeria
soldiers stopped cars at checkpoints and arrested 60 people in the
third day of a crackdown on militants in the volatile oil region.
(AP, 8/21/06)
2006 Aug 25, Nigerian soldiers
in Port Harcourt burned hundreds of slum houses located close to the
compound of an Italian oil company where at least one Italian worker
was kidnapped and his bodyguard killed overnight.
(Reuters, 8/25/06)
2006 Aug 30, Nigerian officials
and the UN refugee agency appealed to some 6,000 recalcitrant
Liberian refugees to go back home, warning that time and hospitality
were fast running out for them.
(AFP, 8/30/06)
2006 Aug, In Nigeria Transcorp
acquired NITEL, the state-run telecommunication company. Pres.
Olusegun Obasanjo was widely believed to have a large stake in
Transcorp. In 2009 the government voided the sale.
(AFP, 6/2/09)
2006 Sep 14, Nigerian President
Olusegun Obasanjo held talks in Tokyo on the start of a
trans-Pacific trip.
(AP, 9/14/06)
2006 Sep 17, A Nigerian
military transport aircraft, traveling from Abuja to the southern
town of Obudu, went down in the southeast with a group of military
officers on board. 12 of 17 people were killed and most were senior
military personnel.
(AP, 9/18/06)
2006 Sep 20, The town of Dutse,
capital of northern Nigeria’s Jigawa state, was recovering after
1,000 people fled their homes in the latest in a series of
inter-communal flare-ups that analysts warn could escalate in the
coming months. This fall 16 churches were burned in Dutse and
thousands made homeless in rioting.
(http://badgals-radio.com/?p=745)(Econ, 2/3/07,
p.50)(http://tinyurl.com/22xej3)
2006 Sep 25, In Nigeria an
inauguration ceremony in Lagos featured new bailiffs, a corps of 30
men and women, all graduates, in uniforms of black trousers,
ash-colored shirts, yellow badges and cowboy hats and handcuffs on
their belts. Former Lagos bailiffs had converted their role as
enforcer of court judgments on property into an extortion racket.
(AP, 9/26/06)
2006 Sep 28, Nigeria's vice
president Atiku Abubakar was suspended by his party for three months
because of corruption allegations, preventing him from running for
president on the party's ticket.
(AP, 9/28/06)
2006 Sep 30, In northwest
Nigeria families were swept away in a torrent of water and scores
were feared dead in flooding from a dam collapse outside Zamfara
state's capital city of Gusau. About 40 people were feared dead and
500 houses were washed away.
(AP, 10/1/06)
2006 Oct 2, Dozens of militants
abducted 25 Nigerian oil workers in an attack on their convoy in the
southern delta region. 5 soldiers were killed and 9 left missing
when militants sank two boats used to guard a Shell convoy.
(AP, 10/3/06)(WSJ, 10/3/06, p.A1)
2006 Oct 3, OPEC President
Nigeria called on its fellow OPEC countries to make deeper output
cuts as prices tumbled to an 8-month low below $59 a barrel and the
tide showed no sign of turning.
(AP, 10/3/06)
2006 Oct 4, In Nigeria
militants freed around 25 kidnapped oil workers but five abducted
expatriates were still missing in another part of the Niger Delta.
(AP, 10/4/06)
2006 Oct 6, ECOWAS leaders met
for summit talks in Nigeria.
(AP, 10/9/06)
2006 Oct 7, Microsoft Corp.
founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda met President Olusegun
Obasanjo for talks on plans to manufacture cheap software in
Nigeria, fight HIV/AIDS and alleviate poverty.
(AP, 10/8/06)
2006 Oct 8, Liberia’s
presidency said ECOWAS leaders, who met in Nigeria on Oct 6, had
agreed for an extension of the term of office of Ivory Coast
President Laurent Gbagbo by 12 months, paving the way for
presidential and general elections there.
(AP, 10/9/06)
2006 Oct 10, Nigeria charged
six people, including men from Ireland, Israel and Romania, with
illegally obtaining classified defense documents. Nigerians with
assault rifles overran a navy base, taking several troops hostage,
and occupied a nearby oil facility belonging to a subsidiary of
Royal Dutch Shell PLC.
(AP, 10/10/06)(AP, 10/11/06)
2006 Oct 11, Edmund Daukoru,
Nigerian oil minister and OPEC president, said OPEC has agreed to
trim global oil production by 1 million barrels a day to boost
prices, and its members were discussing how to share the cut.
Nigerian security sources said armed youths have released dozens of
Nigerian employees of the oil company Shell and its subcontractors,
but around 15 workers were still being held at a flow station in the
restive Niger Delta.
(AP, 10/11/06)(AFP, 10/11/06)
2006 Oct 16, In Nigeria
legislators in southwest Ekiti state voted to remove Gov. Ayo Fayose
on after finding him guilty of siphoning state funds into personal
bank accounts and receiving kickbacks.
(AP, 10/19/06)
2006 Oct 19, Nigeria's
president declared a state of emergency in a troubled southwest
state where he said the impeachment of the governor by the local
legislature violated the constitution. Thirty-one of Nigeria's 36
state governors are being investigated for corruption, according to
the country's financial crimes agency.
(AP, 10/19/06)
2006 Oct 21, In Nigeria police
said all seven foreign oil workers who were being held hostage in
the southern Niger Delta have been released and are in good health.
(AP, 10/21/06)
2006 Oct 25, In Nigeria angry
villagers seized three Shell oil platforms in the volatile Niger
Delta, forcing production to be shut down at each.
(AP, 10/25/06)
2006 Oct 29, In Nigeria
protesters demanding jobs and aid took over an oil pumping station
run by an Italian oil firm in the southern delta region, forcing the
company to shut the flow of oil. Output of 55,000 barrels per day
(bpd) of oil was cut when armed protesters forced the closure of a
flowstation belonging to Italy's Agip company in the Niger Delta.
(AP, 10/29/06)(AFP, 11/6/06)
2006 Oct 29, A Nigerian
airliner carrying 104 people, including the man regarded as a
spiritual leader of Nigeria's Sunni Muslims, crashed in a storm
after taking off from the airport in Abuja. Most of those on board
were feared dead. 9 people survived. The Nigerian pilot of the plane
did not heed air traffic controllers' advice to not depart in stormy
weather.
(AP, 10/29/06)(AP, 10/30/06)
2006 Oct 30, Nigeria and China
signed a 8.3 billion dollar contract for the construction of a
railway line from the economic capital Lagos to Kano, the largest
commercial city in the north.
(AFP, 10/30/06)
2006 Nov 1, In Nigeria a court
of appeal in Ibadan, capital of the southwestern Oyo state, declared
unconstitutional the removal earlier this year of governor Rasheed
Ladoja by local lawmakers. Ladoja was impeached by a faction of the
state parliament on January 12 for alleged corruption and abuse of
office and was replaced by his deputy, Adebayo Alao-Akala.
(AFP, 11/4/06)
2006 Nov 2, Authorities in
Nigeria named Muhammadu Sada Abubakar III (50), an army colonel, as
the country's top Muslim leader, replacing his brother Muhammadu
Maccido, the Sultan of Sokoto, who died in a plane crash last
weekend. Armed gunmen seized two expatriate oil workers, an American
and a Briton, during a raid on a Norwegian oil services ship off
Nigeria's southern coast.
(AP, 11/2/06)
2006 Nov 6, Nigeria signed a
deal with British firm Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) to
build an earth observation satellite.
(AFP, 11/6/06)
2006 Nov 7, In Nigeria an
American and a Briton kidnapped from a ship mapping petroleum
deposits off the oil-rich southern coast were released.
(AP, 11/7/06)
2006 Nov 9, In Nigeria at least
6 hostages escaped from an oil facility where they had been held
along with dozens of other people since armed men raided the
Italian-run pumping station earlier this week.
(AP, 11/9/06)
2006 Nov 13, In Nigeria Joshua
Dariye (49), the beleaguered governor of troubled Plateau State, was
impeached by state legislators after being accused of corruption.
Nigeria's anti-graft commission, the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC), issued a statement saying it was seeking both
Dariye and Ayodele Fayose (46), the impeached former governor of
southwest Ekiti State. The EFCC said recently that it was
investigating 31 state governors out of a total of 36 for
corruption.
(AFP, 11/13/06)
2006 Nov 15, In Nigeria 11
armed men attacked a southern oil facility owned by a subsidiary of
Royal Dutch Shell PLC Wednesday, leaving two attackers dead.
(AP, 11/16/06)
2006 Nov 17, Nigeria's
opposition called for an investigation into a 12-billion naira
(93-million dollar) scandal that hit the front pages with
allegations of government involvement. Several Lagos newspapers
reported that Starcrest was only a firm "on paper" and that it had
been founded in May by several figures in government including
President Olusegun Obasanjo's electoral campaign fundraiser Emeka
Ofor.
(AFP, 11/17/06)
2006 Nov 20, Armed men attacked
the offices of a Nigerian aid group in the southern oil hub of Port
Harcourt, killing one person and wounding another. The dead man had
offered to help find Ateke Tom, a militant wanted by the Nigerian
government in connection with a string of kidnappings and bank
robberies.
(AP, 11/20/06)
2006 Nov 22, In Nigeria a
Briton was killed and one Italian injured when a group of armed men
fleeing in a boat with their seven foreign oil worker hostages
exchanged fire offshore with a navy patrol in the southern Rivers
State. A rescue attempt freed the 6 remaining hostages and left 2
kidnappers and a soldier dead.
(AFP, 11/23/06)(SFC, 11/23/06, p.A40)
2006 Nov 27, A three-story bank
under construction collapsed in the main Nigerian city of Lagos, and
two people were unaccounted for and believed trapped inside the
rubble.
(AP, 11/28/06)
2006 Nov 28, A Nigerian court
voided a report of the country's anti-graft agency which indicted
Vice President Atiku Abubakar and a business associate of
corruption. Amnesty International said Nigerian police and soldiers
are using rape to intimidate restive communities and "as means of
torture to extract confessions from suspects in custody."
(AP, 11/28/06)(AFP, 11/29/06)
2006 Nov 30, Nigeria opened the
first ever summit of African and South American leaders.
Participants called for greater control by the two continents over
their vast reserves of raw materials. The inaugural gathering also
set to tackle issues ranging from the conflict ravaging the Darfur
region of Sudan to the boosting of inter-continental trade.
(AFP, 11/30/06)
2006 Dec 1, In Nigeria OPEC
President Edmund Daukoru said that he expects the OPEC oil export
group to cut its output quota by at least half a million barrels per
day when it meets on December 14.
(AFP, 12/1/06)
2006 Dec 2, In Nigeria press
reports said Abubakar Audu, a former governor of Nigeria's central
state of Kogi (1999-2003), has been charged in a high court with
corruption and money laundering. Audu was slammed with 80 counts of
corruption and money laundering during his tenure.
(AFP, 12/2/06)
2006 Dec 7, Gunmen attacked a
southern Nigerian oil installation belonging to a subsidiary of
Italy's Eni SpA, taking three Italians hostage and killing another
person.
(AP, 12/7/06)
2006 Dec 8, A Nigerian court
ruled that Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s suspension from the
dominant political party was unconstitutional, potentially clearing
the way for him to run for president on the party's ticket in the
upcoming election.
(AP, 12/8/06)
2006 Dec 9, Nigeria’s governing
party suspended gubernatorial primaries in at least two of 36 states
following candidate protests and violent clashes.
(AP, 12/10/06)
2006 Dec 15, In Nigeria armed
men who seized control of a Royal Dutch Shell PLC oil complex
overnight fled, taking three Nigerian hostages, shooting a man and
forcing the oil giant to halt production at the site.
(AP, 12/15/06)
2006 Dec 17, Nigeria's ruling
party chose a reclusive Muslim state governor, Umaru Yar'Adua, to be
its candidate to succeed Olusegun Obasanjo as president of Africa's
most populous nation in elections next year.
(Reuters, 12/17/06)
2006 Dec 18, In southern
Nigeria near-simultaneous blasts tore through two oil company
facilities. The region's main militant group claimed responsibility,
saying it had planted car bombs.
(AP, 12/18/06)
2006 Dec 19, Nigeria's former
military ruler General Muhammadu Buhari emerged as the presidential
candidate of one of the country's main opposition parties, All
Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).
(AFP, 12/19/06)
2006 Dec 21, In southern
Nigeria armed militants in speedboats have killed three policemen in
an overnight attack on a residential facility belonging to French
oil company Total. Shell, began relocating staff dependants after a
bomb blast.
(AP, 12/21/06)
2006 Dec 23, A spokesman for
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said long queues for
gasoline were “just in the spirit of the season.” An explosion
occurred near the headquarters of Rivers State government in the oil
capital of Port Harcourt, moments after militants said they were
about to detonate two car bombs in the region.
(Reuters, 12/23/06)(AFP, 12/23/06)
2006 Dec 24, Nigerian vice
president Atiku Abubakar's new party, the Action Congress (AC),
slammed President Olusegun Obasanjo's declaration that his former
deputy's office was now vacant as unconstitutional.
(AFP, 12/24/06)
2006 Dec 26, In Nigeria a
ruptured gasoline pipeline burst into flames as scavengers collected
the fuel in Lagos, killing 269 people. Witnesses said thieves had
broken into the pipeline after midnight and hundreds of men, women
and children had been collecting leaking fuel in plastic buckets,
cans and bags for hours before the explosion. 2 different armed
groups lifted sieges of two oilfield stations, releasing more than
20 local workers. Shell resumed production at its Nun River
facility. 4 oil workers were still being held hostage by a different
armed group after an attack on Agip's Brass River export terminal on
Dec 7.
(AP, 12/26/06)(AP, 12/27/06)(AP, 12/28/06)
2006 Dec 29, New census figures
said Nigeria's population had nearly doubled to an estimated 140
million people since the last count in 1991. Nigerian medical
authorities announced that the death toll in the oil pipeline fire
in Lagos had risen to 284 after 15 more people succumbed to their
injuries in hospital.
(AP, 12/29/06)
2006 Wole Soyinka, Nigerian
Nobel Prize winning writer (1986), authored “You Must Set Forth at
Dawn,” a memoir that followed up on his childhood memoir “Ake.”
(SSFC, 4/23/06, p.M3)
2007 Jan 3, A Nigerian militant
group said it had seized $545,000 sent by Italian oil firm Agip to
obtain the release of 4 foreign workers kidnapped on Dec 7 but had
kept the men hostage.
(AP, 1/4/07)
2007 Jan 4, Nigeria’s President
Olusegun Obasanjo said Nigeria has repaid 1.4 billion dollars (1.12
billion euros) to the so-called London Club of private creditors and
that the rest of the debt will be cleared by March. At least 3
people were killed in violent clashes between farmers and nomads in
the northwestern state of Zamfara. A 4th died in hospital the next
day.
(AFP, 1/4/07)(AFP, 1/6/07)
2007 Jan 5, In southern Nigeria
gunmen kidnapped five Chinese workers fixing overhead telephone
lines.
(AP, 1/5/07)
2007 Jan 8, The Nigerian
government withdrew a suit seeking to sack Vice President Atiku
Abubakar for defecting to a party other than the one in which he was
elected.
(AFP, 1/9/07)
2007 Jan 9, Nigeria started
paying more than 1,000 Biafran police pensioners, 37 years after the
west African country ended a bloody civil war.
(AFP, 1/10/07)
2007 Jan 10, Militants
kidnapped nine South Korean oil workers and one local worker in the
Niger Delta region of southern Nigeria, bringing the total number of
foreigners currently held hostage there to 18.
(AFP, 1/10/07)
2007 Jan 11, The Nigerian
military said it has recovered the body of an officer who was
abducted last week in the country's southern oil producing region.
(AFP, 1/11/07)
2007 Jan 12, In Nigeria 9 South
Korean pipeline workers and a Nigerian kidnapped in southern Nigeria
were released with the help of a youth group.
(AP, 1/12/07)
2007 Jan 13, Suspected avian
influenza was recorded in northern Nigeria's Sokoto State, a day
after the disease reportedly infected 5,000 birds in nearby Kastina
state.
(AP, 1/14/07)
2007 Jan 14, In Nigeria 12
chiefs from various delta communities were killed overnight when
assailants attacked their boat.
(AP, 1/16/07)
2007 Jan 16, Royal Dutch Shell
evacuated staff from two oil installations in southern Nigeria and
the military boosted troop levels in the volatile area after a dozen
village elders were killed in a riverboat attack.
(AP, 1/16/07)
2007 Jan 17, In Nigeria rebels
released 5 Chinese telecommunications workers and an Italian oil
worker abducted in the southern delta region. A female (22) in Lagos
died from bird flu. This was Nigeria’s first confirmed fatality from
Avian Influenza. Tests on 3 other deaths were inconclusive.
(AP, 1/18/07)(AFP, 1/31/07)
2007 Jan 19, The EU said it has
donated an additional 3.95 million euros ($5 million) to support the
implementation of the Nigeria-Cameroon boundary demarcation project.
(AP, 1/20/07)
2007 Jan 23, In southern
Nigeria unidentified assailants seized oil engineers, an American
and a Briton, in the latest kidnapping.
(Reuters, 1/23/07)
2007 Jan 25, In southern
Nigeria gunmen stormed the local offices of a major Chinese oil
company, abducting seven Chinese employees and stealing a large
amount of cash.
(AP, 1/25/07)
2007 Jan 25, Nigeria divested
24.87% of its equity in the ailing Peugeot Automobile of Nigeria
(PAN), while the French government also conceded to shed 30%
interest in the company, which was turned over to ASD Motors
Nigeria.
(AFP, 1/26/07)
2007 Jan 26, Officials at
Davos, Switz., said Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer, now
depends 100 percent on imports of petroleum products due to the
closure of its three refineries and canalization of pipelines.
(AFP, 1/27/07)
2007 Jan 27, A Belgian man
working for a building materials company was murdered in the oil
city of Warri, in Nigeria's Niger Delta. 2 suspects were arrested.
Carjackers with AK-47s shot dead two women in a US embassy vehicle
in Nairobi's western outskirts. Police killed two of the fleeing
gunmen during a shootout in the nearby bush.
(Reuters, 1/27/07)(Reuters, 1/28/07)
2007 Jan 28, Some 50 Nigerian
rebels attacked a city centre police station in the Niger Delta and
freed George Sobomabo, a top commander, arrested earlier that day.
Militants released 125 inmates when they stormed the police station
in Port Harcourt.
(AFP, 1/28/07)(AFP, 1/30/07)
2007 Jan 29, A truck crashed in
northern Nigeria's Yobe state killing at least 35 people and
seriously injuring another 37. A burst tire caused the truck loaded
with cement as well as 72 people to veer off the road.
(AFP, 1/30/07)
2007 Jan 30, Nigeria's Vice
President Atiku Abubakar accused President Olusegun Obasanjo of
buying arms to suppress unrest in the oil-rich Niger delta rather
than pacifying the region with development.
(AFP, 1/31/07)
2007 Jan 31, A human rights
group said its study of one of Nigeria's oil-producing states found
that officials squandered or stole public money, some hospitals
required patients to bring their own beds, and schools were running
out of chalk.
(AP, 1/31/07)
2007 Feb 1, A Nigerian oil
worker abducted 2 days earlier from a facility operated by Addax
Petroleum in southern Nigeria was found dead.
(AFP, 2/1/07)
2007 Feb 4, In Nigeria
officials said 9 Chinese oil workers, abducted last month by
militants in an armed attack in the southern delta, were released.
(Reuters, 2/4/07)
2007 Feb 7, Gunmen seized a
French oil worker in Nigeria's restive southern petroleum-producing
region. Kidnappers there also seized a woman from the Philippines.
Kidnappers released a British oil-worker after the man taken in a
raid last month fell ill. President Olusegun Obasanjo called for a
high-level meeting to address the violence.
(AP, 2/8/07)
2007 Feb 8, Benin, Nigeria, and
Togo formed a new regional body aimed at fast-tracking the
integration of their economies. The body, known as the Co-Prosperity
Alliance Zone (COPAZ), was formally inaugurated following a
mini-summit of Nigeria’s President Olusegun Obasanjo, Benin’s
President Boni Yayi and Togo’s President Faure Gnassingbe.
(AFP, 2/8/07)
2007 Feb 13, In Nigeria gunmen
released 24 Filipino sailors taken hostage in the lawless southern
oil-producing region.
(AP, 2/13/07)
2007 Feb 17, Nigerian hostage
takers released an American oil worker in Port Harcourt.
(AP, 2/18/07)
2007 Feb 18, In Nigeria gunmen
seized three Croatian workers. The men were abducted in the region's
main city of Port Harcourt.
(AFP, 2/19/07)
2007 Feb 20, Nigeria's court of
appeal ruled that President Olusegun Obasanjo had no legal power to
sack of his deputy president for having joined an opposition party.
(AFP, 2/20/07)
2007 Feb 21, In Nigeria a
Lebanese hostage abducted along with three Italians in southern
Nigeria was freed after being held for more than 10 weeks. MEND said
the men guarding Saliba had been bribed to allow his escape. Two of
the Italians abducted with Saliba were still being held by MEND. The
third was freed on January 18 because of health problems. Gunmen
killed two soldiers and wounded a third in the southern Niger delta.
(AFP, 2/21/07)(AP, 2/22/07)(AFP, 2/23/07)
2007 Feb 23, In Nigeria gunmen
shot dead a Lebanese engineer and kidnapped two Italians in two
separate incidents in the southern oil city of Port Harcourt.
(Reuters, 2/23/07)
2007 Feb 25, In Nigeria riot
police were deployed to quell communal clashes that have claimed
several lives in the southern oil-rich Ogoniland.
(AP, 2/25/07)
2007 Feb 28, In Nigeria at
least 50 people were feared dead when a ferry sank on the Nun River
in the southern state of Bayelsa.
(AFP, 3/2/07)
2007 Feb 28, In Michigan Thomas
Katona, a former county treasurer of a Lake Huron vacation
community, was ordered to stand trial on charges that he looted
$186,500 in public funds for a Nigerian investment scam. Katona was
treasurer of Alcona County from 1993 until his dismissal late in
2006.
(AP, 2/28/07)
2007 Mar 2, In Nigeria 7 people
were shot dead and 10 others were seriously wounded when gunmen
opened fire in a crowded district of Port Harcourt.
(AP, 3/3/07)
2007 Mar 7, A Nigerian court
cleared Vice President Atiku Abubakar to take part in next month's
presidential poll, overturning a decision by the electoral
commission to disqualify him.
(AFP, 3/8/07)
2007 Mar 9, The UN Special
Rapporteur on Torture said Nigerian police routinely torture
suspects, shooting them in the legs, beating them and hanging them
from the ceiling for long periods. Royal Dutch Shell said that it
has successfully contained a major oil spill in a production
facility in southern Nigeria but yet to regain output loss of
187,000 barrels per day.
(AP, 3/9/07)(AFP, 3/9/07)
2007 Mar 12, In Nigeria’s oil
region hostage takers released 3 European captives. 2 Croatians and
one Montenegrin seized Feb. 18 in Port Harcourt were in good health
after their release to state officials.
(AP, 3/12/07)
2007 Mar 15, Nigeria’s
electoral commission barred Vice President Atiku Abubakar from
crucial elections, omitting his name from the roster of two dozen
approved candidates. In southern Nigeria militants released two
Italian oil workers who were kidnapped more than three months ago.
(AP, 3/15/07)(AFP, 3/15/07)
2007 Mar 16, Frenchman Gerard
Laporal, kidnapped in Nigeria's southern oil capital Port Harcourt
more than a month ago, was released.
(AFP, 3/16/07)
2007 Mar 17, In Nigeria retired
general Adetunji Olurin, who runs Ekiti State, warned he could
invoke State of Emergency Laws against politicians bent on causing
violence as April general elections draw near. Newspapers next day
reported that he threatened to have troublemakers shot on sight to
curb political violence. In central Nigeria 2 Asians and one
Nigerian were kidnapped.
(AFP, 3/18/07)(AP, 3/19/07)
2007 Mar 18, In Nigeria a
senior veterinary official said the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus is
spreading among poultry farms around Kano, northern Nigeria's
largest city.
(AFP, 3/18/07)
2007 Mar 21, A Nigerian Senate
committee ruled that President Olusegun Obasanjo and his deputy,
Atiku Abubakar, acted "illegally" in the management of a petroleum
fund and recommended them for prosecution. 5 people were killed in
clashes over land in Ikare-Akoka in the southwestern state of Ondo.
(AFP, 3/21/07)(AFP, 3/22/07)
2007 Mar 23, In southern
Nigeria gunmen kidnapped three foreign construction workers,
including a Dutch national, in two separate incidents.
(AP, 3/23/07)
2007 Mar 25, In Nigeria a
diplomatic source said an Indian and a Lebanese man kidnapped in
volatile southern Nigeria last week amid disputes over oil revenues
have been released.
(AFP, 3/25/07)
2007 Mar 26, In northern
Nigeria at least 89 people burned to death in Kaduna when a tanker
lorry caught fire as they were stealing fuel from it.
(AFP, 3/28/07)
2007 Mar 27, In Nigeria
Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell confirmed that the federal government
had charged it with the alleged loss of some "radioactive tools"
belonging to one of its contractors. Shell denied reports that it
had been involved in any dumping of toxic waste in Nigeria.
(AFP, 3/27/07)
2007 Mar 31, In southern
Nigeria gunmen kidnapped a British oil worker from an offshore oil
rig.
(AP, 3/31/07)
2007 Apr 2, Gunmen in Nigeria's
southern Bayelsa State kidnapped two Lebanese nationals.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 3, Nigerian Vice
President Atiku Abubakar lost an appeal against a decision by the
electoral commission to bar him from this month's presidential
election. Two courts issued competing rulings on the
disqualification, setting up a legal showdown just weeks before an
election meant to solidify civilian rule in the country.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 4, Hostage takers in
southern Nigeria released four foreign workers held captive in the
oil-rich region. The British High Commission and an industry source
said a Briton and a Dutch national held hostage in volatile oil-rich
southern Nigeria have been released. Gordon Gray was kidnapped March
31 from an offshore rig in the Niger delta. The Dutch man was
kidnapped March 23 from Port Harcourt. 2 Lebanese nationals working
for a construction firm, Setraco, were also released.
(AFP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 6, In southern Nigeria
gunmen kidnapped two Turkish engineers from their car in Port
Harcourt.
(Reuters, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 11, In Nigeria 5
people, including a senior police officer, were killed in clashes
between rival cult gangs in the southern oil-rich state of Rivers.
(AFP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 13, In Nigeria gunmen
shot dead a radical Muslim cleric in his mosque and fired on the
congregation, killing two more people, in the northern city of Kano.
(AFP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 14, Voters went to the
polls in Nigeria to choose their state officers in the first of a
pair of elections meant to solidify civilian rule. PDP gunmen beat
up opponents, snatched ballot boxes and stuffed them with pre-marked
ballots. Gunmen killed seven policemen in raids on two police
stations in Port Harcourt. Some later judged the polls to be the
most rigged in the country’s history.
(AP, 4/14/07)(AFP, 4/14/07)(Econ, 4/28/07,
p.56)(Econ, 2/20/10, p.12)
2007 Apr 15, Nigeria's mass
daily newspapers reported that dozens of people died during state
elections, as results began to emerge from state elections that were
marred by rigging and violence.
(AP, 4/15/07)(Reuters, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 16, Nigeria's Supreme
Court ruled that the country's electoral commission unlawfully
disqualified a top opposition politician once allied with the
president from running to replace his former mentor.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 17, Nigeria's
electoral commission said it would comply with a Supreme Court
ruling that the vice president be placed on the ballot for this
weekend's presidential elections, as sporadic violence was reported
around the country. 18 Nigerian opposition parties threatened to
boycott the presidential and legislative elections if the April 14
regional polls were not cancelled. 12 Nigerian police were killed
when an unknown armed group stormed their station in the northern
city of Kano.
(AP, 4/17/07)(AFP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 18, Nigeria's
government rejected an opposition call to postpone the presidential
election following widespread abuses in state polls last weekend.
Nigerian soldiers killed at least 25 Islamic militants, in the
second day of violent clashes in Kano.
(AFP, 4/18/07)(Reuters, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 20, In Nigeria the
opposition said that troops have intercepted a truck-load of already
completed ballots a day before the presidential election,
heightening fears the vote will be rigged. A Nigerian navy
helicopter crashed in the country's south, killing its three crew
members. 7 policemen on election duty were ambushed and shot dead
near Karu town in central Nassarawa State.
(Reuters, 4/20/07)(AFP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 21, A truck bomb aimed
at Nigeria's electoral commission headquarters ran into barriers and
failed to explode. Polls opened despite the attack for a
presidential vote already shadowed by charges of fraud and a
last-minute ballot hitch. Voting in Nigeria's parliamentary
elections was suspended in most of central Lagos, the economic
capital, because of errors on the ballot papers.
(AP, 4/21/07)(AFP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 22, The two main
opposition parties denounced the conduct of Nigeria's presidential
elections. An influential, homegrown observer group called for a
cancellation of the vote meant to cement civilian rule in Africa's
top oil producer.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 23, Umaru Yar'Adua of
Nigeria's ruling party was declared winner of a presidential poll
rejected by the opposition and condemned by observers as a
"charade."
(Reuters, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 24, The Nigerian
government accused Bola Tinubu, the governor of Lagos, of operating
foreign accounts contrary to his oath of office.
(AP, 4/25/07)
2007 Apr 26, Nigeria's main
opposition party said it will not recognize or cooperate with any
government formed as a result of last weekend's presidential
election, which was won by the party of outgoing President Olusegun
Obasanjo.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 27, Nigeria's Supreme
Court voided the removal of Joshua Dariye, a Plateau state governor,
who fled London on money laundering charges in November 2004. In
Nigeria police said 5 gunmen and two police officers were killed
during an attempt to kidnap two foreign oil workers in the oil-rich
city of Port Harcourt.
(AFP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 28, In Nigeria ballot
papers were stolen and voters intimidated as polls were re-staged
for hundreds of state and federal legislators' seats after elections
widely condemned as fraudulent. Oil officials said Nigeria is
currently losing 600,000 barrels of oil per day in the oil rich
Niger Delta as a result of the activities of militants in the
region.
(AP, 4/28/07)(AFP, 4/28/07)
2007 May 1, Thousands of people
gathered in heavily guarded squares and stadiums in Nigeria's main
cities to protest last month's flawed presidential election. Dare
Folorunso, a Nigerian journalist of the state-owned radio-television
station, was beaten unconscious by policemen at workers rally in
Akure in southern Ondo state. MEND militants kidnapped six foreign
oil workers, including four Italians, in an attack on a floating
storage vessel off the coast of southern Bayelsa State. A Nigerian
sailor was killed.
(Reuters, 5/1/07)(SFC, 5/2/07, p.C2)(AFP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 2, A company spokesman
said US oil giant Chevron has shut down 15,000 barrels per day of
oil production in its Funiwa facility in southern Nigeria following
a militant attack.
(AFP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 3, In Nigeria at least
21 workers, most of them foreigners, were kidnapped in separate
attacks in the oil-rice delta region. 8 foreigners and a Nigerian
were later freed.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 5, In southern Nigeria
armed men kidnapped a Briton overnight from the Trident 8 oil rig.
Unknown gunmen in Port Harcourt kidnapped a Russian woman who worked
for a catering company.
(AFP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 7, Nigeria's next
president Umaru Yar'Adua departed on a tour of seven African
countries, his first foreign trip since being elected in April. Oil
major Chevron said it had temporarily shut down its Ebite flow
station in southern Nigeria because of a community protest.
(AFP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 8, In southern Nigeria
militants staged coordinated attacks on 3 pipelines in the wetlands
region, the most damaging assault on the country's vital oil
infrastructure in over a year. MEND claimed responsibility for the
bombings, which forced Italian oil giant Eni to halt production of
150,000 barrels per day (bpd) feeding its Brass export terminal.
Militants released 3 South Koreans and 8 Filipinos kidnapped last
week at a Daewoo construction site in the oil-rich south.
(Reuters, 5/8/07)(AFP, 5/8/07)(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, In southern Nigeria
gunmen seized four American workers overnight as violence escalated
in the petroleum-producing region. South Korea's top builder Daewoo
Engineering and Construction welcomed the release of its kidnapped
workers in Nigeria and said the incident would not affect its
lucrative business in the country.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 10, Nigeria's Senate
cleared outgoing President Olusegun Obasanjo of corruption in the
management of a multi-billion-dollar oil fund but indicted his
deputy. In Port Harcourt gunmen wearing military fatigues jumped
from their vehicles and killed two police officers.
(AFP, 5/11/07)(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 11, Only around half
of 45 oil exploration blocks Nigeria put up for auction attracted
bids, with foreigners wary of political uncertainty ahead of a
government change.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 12, In Nigeria Lora
Kabir, a Russian woman, set off with 50 volunteers on a
225-kilometer (140-mile) walk from polio-endemic Nigeria's most
populous city Kano to raise public awareness among parents of the
dangers of polio.
(AFP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 13, Nigeria's central
labor union called for a two-day mass protest against last month's
elections, which have been roundly criticized by both local and
foreign observers for fraud. In southern Nigeria at least 30 people
were killed when three vehicles burst into flames after colliding on
a road.
(AFP, 5/13/07)(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, A Chinese rocket
blasted a Nigerian communications satellite into orbit, marking an
expansion of China's commercial launching services for foreign space
hardware. The NIGCOMSAT-1 ceased functioning on November 11, 2008,
due to a power failure.
(AP, 5/14/07)(AP, 11/13/08)
2007 May 14, In southern
Nigeria's Rivers State unidentified gunmen snatched a Nigerian
working for Italian oil giant Agip.
(AFP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 15, Royal Dutch Shell
Plc. said protestors have occupied an oil facility in southern
Nigeria forcing daily production cuts of 170,000 barrels per day.
(AFP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 16, Nigerian militants
used dynamite to blow up a home of vice president-elect Goodluck
Jonathan, killing two police officers.
(AFP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 17, In Nigeria labor
leaders called a two-day nationwide strike coinciding with the May
29 inauguration of the new government to protest what they said was
a fraudulent election.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 19, In southern
Nigeria gunmen dynamited the front gate of a residential compound
and kidnapped three Indians in an attack that left one Nigerian
dead.
(AP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 20, Officials said
Nigeria's largest state has sued US drug firm Pfizer for allegedly
using 200 children as "guinea pigs" for a drug test in 1996 that led
to multiple deaths and deformities. In 2010 a leaked WikiLeaks cable
said Pfizer hired investigators to unearth evidence of corruption
against Nigeria’s former attorney general Michael Aondoakaa to
persuade him to drop legal action over the company’s experimental
antibiotic, Trovan.
(AFP, 5/20/07)(SSFC, 12/12/10, p.A4)
2007 May 24, Nigeria's powerful
oil unions began a strike at its state-owned oil company and
threatened to target exports in hopes of reversing the sale of
government refineries.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, In southern
Nigeria gunmen kidnapped a group of foreign oil workers, including
three Americans and four Britons.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 26, Nigeria's oil
unions said they have suspended a two-day-old strike after the
government met their demands over the proposed sale of two
state-owned oil refineries.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 29, Umaru Yar'Adua
(56), a former governor hand-picked by departing President Olusegun
Obasanjo, was sworn in as president in Nigeria’s first transfer of
power from one elected government to another. Gun battles between
rival gangs in Nigeria's southern oil-producing state of Rivers
erupted in violence linked to a change of governor, killing 15
people.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 30, In southern
Nigeria 4 American oil workers abducted three weeks ago were
released.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 Jun 1, Nigeria’s national
dailies reported that nearly 2,000 students sitting university
entrance exams in have been caught using mobile phones to cheat.
Gunmen disguised as riot police abducted four foreign workers from
the residential compound of oil services giant Schlumberger in
Nigeria's oil city Port Harcourt. The four hostages were citizens of
Britain, France, the Netherlands and Pakistan. Gunmen kidnapped
three senior expatriate management staff and four family members
from the residential compound of chemical company Indorama.
(AFP, 6/1/07)(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, Southern Nigeria's
most prominent armed group released six foreign oil workers held
captive for four weeks and announced a month-long moratorium in
attacks on petroleum facilities.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 3, Nigerian gunmen
kidnapped six foreign staff of United Company RUSAL after blowing up
their apartment with explosives in the southeastern town of Ikot
Abasi.
(Reuters, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 4, The Nigerian police
said military troops stormed a hideout in Ebonyi state and freed one
of two Chinese workers abducted by unknown gunmen on Mar 17.
(AFP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 6, A senior official
said Nigeria's anti-graft agency has summoned 15 former governors
over corruption charges involving millions of dollars and they are
due to appear before investigators.
(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 6, Nigeria's
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie won Britain's Orange Prize for fiction by
women for her book “Half of a Yellow Sun,” becoming the first
African to take the award in its 12-year history.
(AP, 6/6/07)(Econ, 11/24/07, p.54)
2007 Jun 11, Hostage takers in
Nigeria's restive oil heartland released 13 captives, including
three Americans.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 13, In London Chinua
Achebe (76), a Nigerian novelist, won the Booker Int’l. Prize for
fiction, awarded every 2 years for a body of fiction. He is best
known for his 1st book “Things Fall Apart” (1958).
(SFC, 6/13/07, p.E5)
2007 Jun 14, Nigerian
separatist leader Mujahid Asari Dokubo, whose detention on treason
charges since 2005 has sparked kidnappings in the oil-rich Niger
Delta, was provisionally freed on health grounds. Militants freed 10
Indian hostages, including 2 women and 2 children.
(AFP, 6/14/07)(AFP, 6/16/07)
2007 Jun 15, In Nigeria
military and industry sources said gunmen have kidnapped several
foreigners in the main oil-producing region of southern Nigeria.
(AFP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 18, Nigeria's main
labor organizations said they had called a general strike for June
20, two days later than originally planned, threatening key oil
exports.
(AP, 6/18/07)
2007 Jun 19, In Nigeria a top
militant leader freed on bail said that armed groups in the restive
south will halt attacks on oil installations to give the new
government a chance to deal with the region's problems.
(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 20, Nigerian stocks
dipped 1.74% as a general strike called by the country's two main
labor movements over a 15-percent hike in petrol prices took its
toll. Nigerian health officials said an outbreak of measles in a
village in the northern state of Borno had killed 20 children and
caused a further 100 children to be hospitalized.
(AFP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 21, In Nigeria police
used tear gas on strikers manning a barricade in Lagos as the second
day of a general strike brought parts of Africa's largest oil
producer to a standstill. Two Nigerian employees of Italian oil
company Agip were killed when troops stormed an oil facility to free
hostages in the Niger delta. A total of 20 people were killed in the
operation, including 15 militants.
(AFP, 6/21/07)(AFP, 6/27/07)
2007 Jun 22, Nigeria's
crippling general strike entered a third day with labor leaders and
government officials deadlocked after all-night talks ended in
failure.
(AP, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 23, In Nigeria labor
unions called off a strike aimed at overturning a government
fuel-price hike, ending a four-day work stoppage that shut down most
major economic activity in Africa's biggest oil producer. Labor
officials said they accepted a government proposal to hold off on
raising fuel prices for a year, while accepting an earlier offer to
halve the price increase that had sparked the strike. Kidnappers
released four foreign oil workers seized weeks ago.
(AP, 6/24/07)
2007 Jun 25, In Nigeria 2 youth
activists were killed in a clash between two rival groups in
southern Nigerian Rivers State.
(AP, 6/25/07)
2007 Jun 26, A seven billion
dollar (5.2 billion euro) lawsuit pitting the Nigerian government
against the world's biggest pharmaceutical company Pfizer opened
with the US giant demanding the court dismiss the charges.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 28, Nigeria’s
President Umaru Yar'Adua revealed personal wealth of $5 million,
saying public financial disclosures should be standard practice
amidst official corruption. Torrential rain brought Lagos virtually
to a standstill as streets flooded with more than 50 centimeters (20
inches) of water, in places blocking traffic.
(AFP, 6/28/07)(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jul 2, Nigerian university
lecturers called off a more than three-month strike to press for
improved working conditions.
(AFP, 7/2/07)
2007 Jul 4, In southern Nigeria
armed men kidnapped five foreigners, the same day the country's most
prominent militant group announced it would end a truce with the
government.
(AP, 7/5/07)
2007 Jul 5, In Nigeria
kidnappers snatched the 3-year-old daughter of a British worker as
she was being taken to school.
(AP, 7/5/07)
2007 Jul 8, In southern Nigeria
a British toddler was released by gunmen and reunited with her
parents, who said she was fine but hungry and covered in mosquito
bites.
(AP, 7/8/07)
2007 Jul 9, In Nigeria gunmen
attacked two southern oil installations, kidnapping two senior
Nigerian employees of Royal Dutch Shell PLC and two foreigners.
(AP, 7/9/07)
2007 Jul 10, Nigerian troops
foiled an attempt by militants to kidnap workers at a Korean firm in
southern Rivers state, killing one insurgent and injuring several
others. Police said several people were injured and many houses and
vehicles were destroyed in two days of fighting between two rival
cult gangs in southern Ogoniland.
(AP, 7/10/07)
2007 Jul 11, Nigeria's
anti-corruption agency arrested two former governors who had refused
to present themselves for questioning.
(AP, 7/12/07)
2007 Jul 12, In Nigeria the
3-year-old son of town chief Eze Francis Amadi was grabbed by gunmen
who smashed a window of his father's SUV in the fourth child
kidnapping in the oil-rich south in less than two months. The boy
was returned the next day.
(AP, 7/12/07)(AP, 7/13/07)
2007 Jul 17, Anglo-Dutch oil
giant Shell said it has been unable to fight a major fire along a
key oil supply pipeline because of unrest in southern Nigeria's
Ogoniland region. The fire, raging for more than a month, has
affected the company's Trans-Niger pipeline that passes through six
villages whose residents are hostile to the company.
(AFP, 7/17/07)
2007 Jul 18, A top Nigerian
lawyer accused former president Olusegun Obasanjo of corruption and
asked the anti-graft commission (EFCC) to investigate his financial
activities while in office. A Nigerian oil official said the economy
has lost more than one billion dollars a month and hundreds of
thousands of barrels of crude a day since 2006 due to unrest in the
Niger Delta. In northern Nigeria a radical Sunni Islamic preacher
was shot dead near a mosque. Sunni Muslims in Sokoto said they
suspected members of the rival Shiite community.
(AFP, 7/18/07)(AFP, 7/19/07)
2007 Jul 20, Nigeria filed a
new lawsuit against US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer claiming some 6.5
billion dollars in damages for deaths allegedly stemming from drug
trials. In Sokoto, Nigeria's main Islamic city, mobs burned down
houses in Shiite neighborhoods in apparent reprisal for the murder
this week of a radical Sunni Muslim cleric. In northern Nigeria at
least one person died and about 100 were detained in a series of
dawn raids following sectarian clashes sparked by the killing of a
popular Sunni cleric In southern Nigeria Gunmen killed a Lebanese
businessman in his home. Later in the day attackers tried to ambush
a truck carrying several foreign workers in what appeared to be a
kidnapping attempt.
(AFP, 7/20/07)(AP, 7/20/07)
2007 Jul 21, In southern
Nigeria armed men seized the son (30) of a local chief near Port
Harcourt.
(AFP, 7/22/07)
2007 Jul 23, Nigerian police
said at least 10 people were killed over the weekend and dozens
sustained burns in the southern Delta state after adulterated
kerosene they were using in their stoves exploded. In southwest
Nigeria at least six people were killed and several trapped when a
three-storey building under construction collapsed.
(AFP, 7/23/07)(AFP, 7/24/07)
2007 Jul 24, Nigerian President
Umaru Yar'Adua ordered the release of funds belonging to the
government of the economic capital Lagos seized three years ago by
his predecessor. Suspected ransom-seekers kidnapped the mother of
the speaker of the state house of assembly in neighboring Bayelsa
state.
(AP, 7/24/07)(AP, 7/25/07)
2007 Jul 25, The Nigerian
government filed suit against three leading tobacco companies,
seeking more than 40 billion dollars (29 billion euros) in damages
for the cost of treating smoking-related diseases.
(AFP, 11/7/07)
2007 Jul 26, A court in Nigeria
sentenced Dieprieye Alamieyeseigha, former Bayelso state governor,
to two years in jail on charges of corruption and money laundering
and ordered him to forfeit millions in property and cash. Vice
Admiral Ganiyu Adekeye, the new head of the navy, told a
parliamentary commission about the suspected illegal bunkering on
ships under naval guard and how the ex-officers allegedly dipped
into the lucrative trade.
(AP, 7/26/07)(AFP, 7/28/07)
2007 Jul 31, In Nigeria Peter
Ogwuma, a staff (member) of Elf Petroleum, was abducted as he was
about to leave the church for home.
(AFP, 8/2/07)
2007 Aug 5, In Nigeria 18 men
were arrested in remote northern Bauchi state, where they were found
with women's apparel as they prepared for a gay wedding. They faced
charges of sodomy in a Nigerian Islamic court. They were accused of
lesser crimes in court but angry crowds reacted violently. Three
weeks later they were rearrested and charged with more severe crimes
including indecent acts and faced 10 years in jail if found guilty.
(AP, 8/10/07)(Econ, 10/13/07, p.49)
2007 Aug 6, Nigerian police
said that they have arrested 17 people over the past two months on
suspicion of carrying out kidnappings in the oil-rich south of the
country. At least 17 people were killed in flooding in central
Nigeria's Plateau state while more than 200 houses were washed away.
(AP, 8/6/07)(AP, 8/7/07)
2007 Aug 7, ECOWAS said the
last refugees from Liberia and Sierra Leone in Nigeria have been
allowed to settle and they will have access to work, education and
health on the same terms as Nigerians, West African regional bloc.
(AP, 8/8/07)
2007 Aug 7, In Nigeria 6
Russian hostages, kidnapped on June 3, were freed in the oil
producing Niger Delta after two months in captivity. Rusal, the
world's largest aluminium producer, acquired 77 percent of the
Nigerian company Alscon in February.
(AFP, 8/7/07)
2007 Aug 8, In Nigeria
kidnappers released a British and a Bulgarian hostage in the
southern oil region, while the young son of a local legislator was
seized in a separate incident and gunbattles raged for a third day.
(AP, 8/8/07)
2007 Aug 10, In Nigeria gunmen
kidnapped an American manager from oil services firm Hydrodive as he
traveled to work in Port Harcourt, where gunfire rang out across the
region’s main city for a fifth day.
(Reuters, 8/10/07)
2007 Aug 12, In southern
Nigeria a foreigner taken hostage amid increased lawlessness died of
an illness while being taken to a hospital.
(AP, 8/12/07)
2007 Aug 14, Gunmen in southern
Nigeria abducted the mother of a state lawmaker, the latest in a
spate of kidnappings targeting the children and elderly parents of
local politicians.
(AP, 8/14/07)
2007 Aug 17, Nigerian
authorities imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in Port Harcourt after
security forces and gang members clashed in battles that left dozens
dead.
(AP, 8/17/07)
2007 Aug 27, Gunmen in southern
Nigeria set free Peter Agwuna, a Nigerian supervisor for the Elf oil
group, who was seized in Port Harcourt about a month ago.
(AFP, 8/28/07)
2007 Sep 3, In southwestern
Nigeria at least 20 people were killed when a bus collided with a
fuel tanker.
(AFP, 9/4/07)
2007 Sep 4, Nigeria’s national
news agency said Nigeria will spend 950 million naira (7.3 million
dollars/ 5.3 million euros) to resettle nationals living in the
disputed Bakassi Peninsula ceded to Cameroon last year.
(AFP, 9/4/07)
2007 Sep 6, In Nigeria 5
people, including two policemen, were shot dead in a failed attempt
to rob a bank in Lagos.
(AFP, 9/6/07)
2007 Sep 11, In Nigeria
journalist Tope Abiola was beaten unconscious by prison guards and
police as he photographed the bodies of some of the inmates killed
by police who used live bullets to foil a jail break attempt at
Agodi prison. At least eight inmates were killed and another 14
seriously injured in the riot.
(AFP, 9/15/07)
2007 Sep 14, Eight members of
Nigeria's ruling party seized by gunmen in the southern
oil-producing state of Ondo last weekend were released.
(AFP, 9/15/07)
2007 Sep 18, The Nigerian navy
said that over the past 3 years it had seized 236 ships, tugboats
and barges used for smuggling crude oil and petroleum products in
the high seas and Niger delta.
(AFP, 9/18/07)
2007 Sep 20, A Nigerian
government spokesman said Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala has sacked the
entire 34,000-strong workforce in his Oyo state for refusing to heed
a call to suspend their one-month-old strike over pay.
(AFP, 9/20/07)
2007 Sep 21, Sources said the
presumed head of the Nigerian armed group the Movement for the
Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), who goes under the name of
Jomo Gbomo, has been arrested in Angola.
(AFP, 9/21/07)
2007 Sep 22, Nigeria suspended
a deal by a previous government allowing the private sector to run
the country's federal government-owned "unity" schools.
(AFP, 9/22/07)
2007 Sep 26, Dr. Judith Asuni
(60), A US aid worker, was arrested in the oil-rich Niger Delta
along with German nationals Florian Orpitz (35), and Andy Lehmann
(26), and one Nigerian, Danjuma Saidu. Asuni was said to have
facilitated the Germans' visit to Nigeria and helped them enter the
petroleum installation to film. Asuni was granted bail on Oct 23.
(AFP, 10/7/07)(AP, 10/23/07)
2007 Sep 27, In Nigeria gunmen
disguised as soldiers killed a Colombian oil worker and abducted two
other foreigners in a raid on the construction yard of oil services
company Saipem.
(Reuters, 9/27/07)
2007 Oct 3, Local media said
police in southwest Nigeria have arrested five politicians for
allegedly raping a 15-year-old schoolgirl. The suspects, all members
of the west African giant's ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP),
were arrested for the offence in Ilesha. An opposition Action
Congress (AC) spokesman said the rape victim was among eight
supporters of the party who were abducted two weeks ago in the town.
At least 38 people were killed and 48 reported missing after two
ferries collided on a river in northern Nigeria's Kebbi State.
(AP, 10/3/07)(AFP, 10/5/07)
2007 Oct 3, An Islamic court in
northern Nigeria banned a play written by a civil rights activist
which satirizes the implementation of Sharia law in 12 mainly Muslim
states. The upper Sharia court in the Tudun Wada neighborhood of the
northern city of Kaduna issued the order restraining Shehu Sani from
selling or circulating his play, "Phantom Crescent."
(AFP, 10/7/07)
2007 Oct 4, Officials said the
Nigerian central bank has raised its benchmark interest rate MPR
from eight to nine percent because of rising inflation.
(AFP, 10/4/07)
2007 Oct 10, A Nigerian
electoral court annulled the election of Ibrahim Idris, the governor
of the central Kogi State, following a complaint by his opponent,
Abubakar Audu, that he had been unfairly excluded from the April
vote.
(AFP, 10/11/07)
2007 Oct 11, A World Health
Organization official said 69 children in northern Nigeria
contracted polio following vaccination against the disease. Peter
Eriki indicated that around 10 percent of the Nigerian population
has dodged the vaccination campaign. The new outbreak was caused by
the mutation of a vaccine's virus.
(AFP, 10/12/07)(AP, 8/14/09)
2007 Oct 14, Indian PM Manmohan
Singh arrived in the Nigerian capital Abuja in the first state visit
by an Indian premier to the oil-rich west African state in 45 years.
(AP, 10/15/07)
2007 Oct 16,
India and Nigeria reaffirmed their stance in favor of UN
Security Council reform and signed up to a slew of cooperation
agreements on day two of a state visit to Nigeria by Indian PM
Manmohan Singh.
(AP, 10/16/07)
2007 Oct 21, Shell officials
said gunmen in speedboats attacked an offshore oil field in the
volatile Niger Delta, kidnapping three foreign workers and four
Nigerians.
(AP, 10/21/07)
2007 Oct 24, Nigeria's top
corruption investigator said that up to six former governors will be
charged by the end of the year, a sign the country's new leadership
is making good on pledges to stamp out graft in one of the world's
most corrupt nations.
(AP, 10/24/07)
2007 Oct 25, In southwest
Nigeria 17 people were killed when a passenger bus collided with an
oncoming truck on a road.
(AFP, 10/26/07)
2007 Oct 26, In south Nigeria
armed militants attacked an offshore oil platform operated by
Italy's ENI and seized seven foreign workers and one Nigerian. The 6
foreign workers were released on Oct 30.
(AP, 10/26/07)(AP, 10/30/07)
2007 Oct 30,
Patricia Etteh, the speaker of Nigeria's House of
Representatives, resigned, just hours after saying she would step
aside temporarily to enable lawmakers to debate a report indicting
her over a contract scam. A panel's report found Etteh did not
follow due process before awarding contracts worth several million
dollars to equip and renovate her official residence and that of her
deputy.
(AFP, 10/30/07)
2007 Oct 31, In southern
Nigeria one navy officer was killed and four other naval personnel
injured in an overnight attack on a vessel protecting a Shell
oilfield.
(AP, 10/31/07)
2007 Nov 2, A Nigerian court
sentenced Omoniyi Sanlola (25), a university student, to 34 years in
jail for forging US Postal Service money orders. The judge handed
him one-year terms for each count, to run concurrently.
(AFP, 11/3/07)
2007 Nov 7, The country's top
prosecutor said Nigeria will drop criminal charges against an
American peace worker, her Nigerian associate and two German film
makers who had been accused of endangering national security.
(AP, 11/7/07)
2007 Nov 12, A Nigerian
official said security agents have arrested several men who
allegedly had materials for making explosives. Evidence has linked
them to the al-Qaida terror network.
(AP, 11/12/07)
2007 Nov 12, An unknown armed
group killed 19 Cameroonian soldiers in Bakassi, a border region
handed back to Cameroon by Nigeria last year.
(Reuters, 11/13/07)
2007 Nov 15, Royal Dutch Shell
said a major pipeline feeding one of its two main oil export
terminals in southern Nigeria was attacked and ruptured by unknown
assailants.
(AP, 11/15/07)
2007 Nov 18, In Nigeria’s
northern Kano state supporters of rival political parties clashed
over the results of local government elections, leaving six people
dead and dozens behind bars.
(AP, 11/19/07)
2007 Nov 20, Officials said
Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua will not allow his country to be
used as a base for the proposed US African military command AFRICOM.
(AFP, 11/20/07)
2007 Dec 4, In southern Nigeria
pirates attacked a vessel operated by oil major ExxonMobil in the
Niger Delta, killing a crew member and injuring another.
(AP, 12/4/07)
2007 Dec 11, In southeast
Nigeria 20 people were killed and several injured when the driver of
a truck lost control and rammed into a crowd by the roadside in
Awka, Anambra state.
(AFP, 12/12/07)
2007 Dec 12, The former
governor of Nigeria's oil rich Delta state, James Ibori, was
arrested on corruption and money-laundering charges. His state
salary was less than $25,000 per year. In August a court in London
ordered a freeze on $35 million of his worldwide assets.
(AP, 12/12/07)(Econ, 1/5/08, p.38)(AP, 7/2610)
2007 Dec 13, In south-west
Nigeria at least 17 people burned to death when four vehicles burst
into flames in a crash.
(AFP, 12/15/07)
2007 Dec 14, Ayo Fayose of
southwestern Ekiti state gave, a Nigerian former state governor,
turned himself in to police after more than a year on the run,
vowing to defend himself in court against allegations of corruption.
High Chief Ekpemupolo, an influential rebel commander in Nigeria's
oil-producing Niger Delta, ordered the suspension of peace talks
with the government because of military incursions and the arrest of
another commander.
(Reuters, 12/15/07)
2007 Dec 17, Nigeria's main
militant group urged all armed factions in the restive southern oil
heartland to join together and cripple Africa's biggest petroleum
industry.
(AP, 12/17/07)
2007 Dec 24, A Nigerian court
ordered the arrests of three of the defendants in a trial over a
drug test conducted by Pfizer in 1996 which Nigerian authorities say
killed 11 children and left others disabled.
(AP, 12/24/07)
2007 Dec 26, A ruptured
gasoline pipeline exploded in flames, killing at least 34 people
near Nigeria's main city of Lagos as they tried to scoop fuel from
the gushing leak.
(AP, 12/26/07)
2007 Dec 27, Nigeria reported
that Nuhu Ribadu, head of the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC), was being forced to resign in order to attend a
one year course at the National Institute of Policy and Strategic
Studies at Jos.
(Econ, 1/5/08, p.38)
2007-2009 In Nigeria more than 17,000 people died
in about 31,000 road accidents across Nigeria between this period.
(AFP, 2/14/10)
2008 Jan 1, In Nigeria armed
men killed 13 people over New Year in Port Harcourt when they
attacked two police stations and a hotel. The Niger Delta Vigilante
Movement, led by Ateke Tom, claimed responsibility.
(AFP, 1/2/08)(SFC, 1/2/08, p.A3)
2008 Jan 11, In Nigeria MEND,
the prominent militant group in the oil-rich Niger Delta, said it
planted an explosive device that set a tanker on fire in Port
Harcourt.
(AFP, 1/11/08)
2008 Jan 12, In Nigeria a
speeding fuel tanker crashed and spilled its cargo in Port Harcourt,
and as many as three dozen people were feared dead in the resulting
fire.
(AP, 1/12/08)
2008 Jan 15, In Nigeria a
civilian was killed and two policemen injured in an overnight attack
on the convoy of a port authority official in the oil hub city Port
Harcourt. Anglo-Dutch energy giant Shell said that local people were
hampering efforts to repair the sabotaged pipelines at the Forcados
export terminal in southern Nigeria.
(AFP, 1/15/08)
2008 Jan 21, In southern
Nigeria a major oil pipeline belonging to Italian oil company Agip
caught fire and a tanker truck exploded in separate incidents.
(AFP, 1/21/08)
2008 Feb 3, In Nigeria fighters
from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND)
attacked a military houseboat stationed at the Shell Petroleum Tora
manifold in Bayelsa state of Nigeria. The attack killed three
soldiers.
(AFP, 2/5/08)
2008 Feb 6, In Nigeria armed
men killed a policeman in an overnight attack and kidnapped the wife
of a prominent politician in Port Harcourt. She was released 2 days
later.
(AFP, 2/6/08)(AFP, 2/9/08)
2008 Feb 8, A presidential
statement said Nigeria has approved a new policy requiring gas
producers to direct a part of their output to the domestic market,
rather than exporting it.
(AP, 2/8/08)
2008 Feb 10, In Nigeria 6
people, including three policemen, were killed in a gun battle with
robbers in Nigeria's commercial city Lagos.
(AFP, 2/11/08)
2008 Feb 11, Gunmen killed a
Nigerian naval officer and forced several others to dive for their
lives into the water in oil-rich southern Rivers State.
(AFP, 2/11/08)
2008 Feb 13, In Nigeria at
least seven people were killed and several more were trapped when a
four-storey building collapsed in Lagos.
(AFP, 2/14/08)
2008 Feb 14, Angola extradited
Henry Okah, the alleged leader of Movement for the Emancipation of
the Niger Delta (MEND), to Nigeria.
(AP, 2/15/08)
2008 Feb 26, A Nigerian
election tribunal upheld the president's declared victory in last
year's disputed election.
(AP, 2/26/08)
2008 Feb 28, The presidents of
resource-hungry China and oil-rich Nigeria met ahead of the planned
signing of energy deals in Beijing's latest overture to an African
nation.
(AFP, 2/28/08)
2008 Feb 29, In Ghana 9
Nigerians were sentenced to 5 years each for faking e-mails and
letters, including one from the Ghanaian president, to dupe a
Frenchman out of $185,000.
(AFP, 3/10/08)
2008 Mar 11, Nigerian soldiers
hunting Niger Delta gang leader Ateke Tom said they had found a huge
cache of arms and ammunition, along with an illegal pipeline used to
tap stolen oil, in a raid on one of his bases.
(AFP, 3/12/08)
2008 Mar 15, Officials said the
main telecom operator in the United Arab Emirates, Etisalat, has
launched mobile services in Nigeria, becoming the fifth operator
there.
(AP, 3/15/08)
2008 Mar 15, In Nigeria a Wings
Airline 19-seater aircraft went missing shortly after leaving Lagos
for the Obudu Cattle Ranch in Cross River state. On Aug 30 hunters
found the wreckage of the plane and the bodies of its three crew
members.
(AFP, 9/3/08)
2008 Mar 20, Fidelis Omeni, an
environment ministry official said, Nigeria has been suspended from
the International Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)
for alleged breaches of its provisions.
(AP, 3/20/08)
2008 Mar 29, In southwestern
Nigeria 5 employees of Express Oil were seized by angry youths in
Ondo state over the company's failure to pay royalties for its
operations in the area.
(AFP, 3/31/08)
2008 Apr 6, In Nigeria
unidentified gunmen kidnapped an 11-year-old boy in Port Harcourt,
wounding his mother and killing the family's police guard and their
driver.
(AFP, 4/7/08)
2008 Apr 8, Nigeria's
government filed graft charges against the daughter of ex-president
Olusegun Obasanjo and two ministers sacked last month.
(AP, 4/8/08)
2008 Apr 13, The Saudi Arabia
beheaded two Nigerian men convicted of smuggling cocaine into the
kingdom. 42 people have been beheaded this year, according to an AP
count.
(AP, 4/13/08)
2008 Apr 21,
A rebel group from Nigeria's oil producing Niger Delta said it
attacked two major oil pipelines there in what it called a message
to the United States to stop supporting "injustice" in the troubled
region.
(AP, 4/21/08)
2008 Apr 22, Anglo-Dutch oil
group Shell reported output loss of 169,000 barrels per day
following the sabotage of its key supply pipelines in southern
Nigeria.
(AP, 4/22/08)
2008 Apr 24, In Nigeria members
of a white-collar union working for Mobil Producing Nigeria (MPN),
an affiliate of US oil group ExxonMobil, began an indefinite strike
over pay and working conditions. MEND fighters sabotaged a Royal
Dutch Shell oil pipeline in southern Rivers State.
(AP, 4/24/08)(AP, 4/25/08)
2008 May 2, Nigeria’s high
court ruled that former president Olusegun Obasanjo's daughter,
Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, currently in hiding, must face corruption
charges.
(AP, 5/2/08)
2008 May 3, Rebels in Nigeria's
oil-rich Niger Delta blew up three oil wells operated by Royal Dutch
Shell, their fifth attack in recent weeks against the petroleum
industry.
(AP, 5/3/08)
2008 May 6, Niger Delta rebels
said that former US President Jimmy Carter had agreed to act as a
mediator if invited by Nigeria's government, and the group promised
to declare a ceasefire if talks went ahead.
(Reuters, 5/6/08)
2008 May 7, Nigeria announced
it was suspending import duties and other taxes on rice while
launching a raft of other measures to head off a food crisis in
Africa's most populous nation.
(AP, 5/7/08)
2008 May 10, Oil major Royal
Dutch Shell said it was losing the equivalent of 30,000 barrels of
crude oil per day because of recent attacks against its
installations in Nigeria.
(AP, 5/10/08)
2008 May 11, In southern
Nigeria unknown gunmen raided a police station in the oil-rich state
of Bayelsa killing two police officers. The gunmen also stole arms
and ammunition during the attack at Okiki in Ogbia area of the
state.
(AFP, 5/13/08)
2008 May 13, In Nigeria
unidentified gunmen in the restive south hijacked an oil-services
vessel carrying 11 crew members demanding about $250,000 for their
release. The crew members were released on June 25.
(AP, 5/14/08)(AFP, 6/26/08)
2008 May 14, US federal
prosecutors said Willbros Group Inc., a Houston-based oil services
company, agreed to pay $32.3 million in criminal and civil penalties
to settle charges that it bribed officials in Nigeria and Ecuador to
get contracts between 2003-2005.
(WSJ, 5/15/08, p.B2)
2008 May 15, In Nigeria a huge
explosion was triggered when an excavator accidentally pierced an
oil pipeline. The Nigeria Red Cross said some 100 people were killed
in a blaze that lasted more than a day. A local government official
put the death toll at 15.
(AFP, 5/16/08)
2008 May 21, In northern
Nigeria 46 soldiers, who just returned from a peacekeeping mission
in Darfur, were killed in a road accident. 10 people drowned and six
were rescued when their boat capsized in Port Harcourt.
(AFP, 5/22/08)(AFP, 5/23/08)
2008 May 21, Dozens of men on
horseback armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades
ambushed Nigerian peacekeepers serving with the joint UN-African
Union force in Darfur. No casualties were reported.
(AP, 5/23/08)
2008 May 26, Rebels from
Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta said they had blown up a Royal
Dutch Shell pipeline and killed 11 soldiers in a firefight, but the
army denied losing any men.
(Reuters, 5/26/08)
2008 May 31, In Nigeria a
senior health department official for the federal capital said
smokers in public places in the capital of Abuja will be arrested
and prosecuted from June 1.
(AP, 5/31/08)
2008 May, In southeast Nigeria
20 teenage girls were rescued at the hospital in Enugu in a police
swoop on what was believed to be one of the largest infant
trafficking rings in the country. Buying or selling of babies is
illegal in Nigeria and can carry a 14-year jail term.
(AFP, 11/9/08)
2008 Jun 2, Nigeria's President
Umaru Yar-Adua arrived in South Africa for a four-day state visit to
forge closer ties between Africa's most populous country and its
biggest economy.
(AFP, 6/2/08)
2008 Jun 3, The Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN) raised its lending rate (MPR) to 10.25 percent from 10
percent to tame high inflation triggered by rising global food
prices.
(AP, 6/3/08)
2008 Jun 9, Militants attacked
an oil security vessel off the coast of Nigeria and seized eight
navy personnel and a local Cameroon official. 3 soldiers escaped. On
June 15 Cameroon military headquarters said authorities searching
for the six people found five mutilated and bullet-riddled bodies
buried in the mangroves.
(Reuters, 6/9/08)(Reuters, 6/16/08)
2008 Jun 10, Nigeria’s Foreign
Minister Ojo Maduekwe said official records show that 23,584
Nigerians are in prisons abroad for immigration offences. 9 Nigerian
navy members were killed and four civilians injured in a second
attack in as many days on a security vessel in the volatile oil-rich
south.
(AFP, 6/10/08)
2008 Jun 11, In Nigeria a pay
strike by teachers brought schools to a standstill after talks with
the government ended in deadlock.
(AFP, 6/12/08)
2008 Jun 14, In Nigeria a union
leader said teachers have ended their three-day strike after the
government agreed to heed their demand for a pay rise.
(AFP, 6/14/08)
2008 Jun 17, Nigerian police
stormed the hideout of the kidnappers of Eunice Gideon, the wife of
a senior Bayelsa state official and freed her. She was abducted two
weeks ago and was freed in neighboring Rivers state after a
gunbattle with the kidnappers.
(AFP, 6/17/08)
2008 Jun 19, Nigeria's most
prominent militant group claimed responsibility for an attack on
Shell's main offshore oilfield and said it had kidnapped a US oil
worker. The attack shut down a tenth of the country's oil output in
a rare attack on a deepwater facility. The Movement for the
Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said US captain Jack Stone
from oil services company Tidex was freed in the afternoon.
(AFP, 6/19/08)(Reuters, 6/19/08)
2008 Jun 20, Nigerian militants
blew up a key oil supply pipeline operated by Chevron, in the latest
attack targeting the country's multi-billion-dollar oil industry.
The breached pipeline prompted Chevron to shut down its onshore oil
production.
(AFP, 6/21/08)
2008 Jun 22, Militants in
Nigeria's southern Niger Delta, whose campaign of sabotage has
sharply cut the country's oil output, announced a ceasefire but
stopped short of agreeing to participate in peace talks.
(Reuters, 6/23/08)
2008 Jun 23, The Nigerian
senior oil workers union, PENGASSAN, launched a strike against
Chevron. Company officials said the next day that oil production had
not been affected.
(AFP, 6/24/08)
2008 Jun 24, Ibrahim Gambari
said Nigeria will seek a 90-day truce in the oil rich Niger Delta
before holding a summit on peace in that region. Gambari was
appointed to chair a summit.
(AFP, 6/24/08)
2008 Jun 25, Nigeria's National
Bureau of Statistics said the inflation rate rose in May to 9.7
percent from 8.2 percent the previous month, driven by increases in
the cost of food and household items. Witnesses said at least six
people have been killed over four days of fighting between rival
militant gangs in southern oil-rich Bayelsa state.
(AP, 6/25/08)
2008 Jun, Nigeria's anti-drugs
agency seized 80 ton of cannabis in its largest ever single haul, in
the southwestern city of Ibadan.
(AFP, 11/16/08)
2008 Jun, Nigeria’s 144
prisons, with an official capacity of 25,000, currently held almost
twice that number.
(Econ, 6/7/08, p.60)
2008 Jul 1, The Nigerian Senate
passed a resolution barring the anti-graft agency EFCC and other
security agents from arresting witnesses who appear before
parliament. The lawmakers passed the resolution following the
arrests of an Austrian contractor and two former ministers on the
floor of the Senate shortly after testifying before a parliamentary
hearing on the aviation sector.
(AFP, 7/2/08)
2008 Jul 2, The Nigerian
government charged two former aviation ministers with misusing a
$165-million fund set up to improve air safety after three airplane
accidents.
(AP, 7/2/08)
2008 Jul 4, In Nigeria hundreds
of soldiers, who served as UN peacekeepers in Liberia, went on the
rampage in southwestern Akure in protest against the military
authorities' refusal to pay their allowance. On April 27, 2009, a
Nigerian court-martial sentenced 27 former UN peacekeepers to life
in prison after they were convicted of mutiny following their
protests. On Aug 29 the army commuted the life sentences to 7 years.
(AP, 7/5/08)(AP, 4/28/09)(AFP, 8/29/09)
2008 Jul 5, Nigerian officials
said radioactive materials in abandoned mining fields in central
Nigeria's Plateau state pose a serious health hazard to two million
people. Police said Nigeria has deployed troops in the remote
southeastern state of Ebonyi after 14 people were killed and scores
of buildings destroyed in clashes between rival groups feuding over
land.
(AP, 7/5/08)(Reuters, 7/5/08)
2008 Jul 10, Nigeria's main
militant group said it would resume attacks in the country's
oil-rich river delta region because of Britain's recent pledge to
back the government in the conflict there. UN special envoy Ibrahim
Gambari resigned as chairman of a planned peace summit for the
oil-rich Niger Delta following opposition from regional leaders.
(AP, 7/10/08)(AFP, 7/10/08)
2008 Jul 11, A senior military
official said the Nigerian navy has arrested 15 Filipinos after
intercepting a vessel carrying a significant quantity of stolen
crude oil off the coast of the Niger Delta. Gunboats intercepted the
MV Lina Panama in the waters off Brass, home to a major oil export
terminal in the southern state of Bayelsa. One security source said
the vessel was thought to be carrying tens of thousands of tons of
stolen oil.
(Reuters, 7/12/08)
2008 Jul 12, In Nigeria a truck
drivers strike to protest soaring fuel prices entered its 2nd day.
At least 17 people died at a prayer meeting in rural Nigeria after
apparently breathing noxious fumes from their power generator while
asleep. Their bodies were discovered on July 15.
(AFP, 7/12/08)(Reuters, 7/16/08)
2008 Jul 16, In Nigeria about
30 armed men in speedboats attacked a navy vessel that was guarding
key oil facilities in southern Rivers state. Three militants, a
naval serviceman and a civilian were killed. MEND said it was not
involved.
(Reuters, 7/17/08)
2008 Jul 17, Nigerian villagers
blew up a key crude oil supply pipeline operated by Agip, the
Nigerian subsidiary of Italian group Eni, cutting production.
(AFP, 7/17/08)
2008 Jul 23, Nigeria's main
militant group threatened to destroy the nation's major oil
pipelines within 30 days to counter allegations it had struck a $12
million deal with the government to protect them.
(AP, 7/23/08)
2008 Jul 24, In Nigeria a
petrol tanker burst into flames main in the main city of Lagos,
killing at least 12 people and leaving several others with severe
burns. 5 eastern European oil workers were abducted from a Swedish
boat in the Niger delta. The 5 Russian oil workers were released on
July 26.
(AFP, 7/24/08)(AP, 7/26/08)(AP, 7/28/08)
2008 Jul 25, In Nigeria two oil
workers, one Nigerian and one Filipino, were kidnapped in the Niger
delta.
(AP, 7/26/08)
2008 Jul 26, In Nigeria
unidentified men in a speed boat seized eight foreign oil workers at
gunpoint in the Niger delta. They were released later in the day.
(AP, 7/26/08)
2008 Jul 28, Militants in
Nigeria's Niger Delta said they had blown up two major oil pipelines
belonging to Royal Dutch Shell, forcing the firm to halt some
production and helping push world oil prices higher.
(Reuters, 7/28/08)
2008 Jul 30, Nigerian security
officials said rival militant factions in Nigeria's oil-producing
Niger Delta have clashed in an apparent turf war, killing at least
four people.
(Reuters, 7/30/08)
2008 Aug 2, In Nigeria gunmen
seized 2 French oil workers from a bar in Onne near the oil hub of
Port Harcourt. The 2 were released on Sep 5.
(AFP, 9/5/08)
2008 Aug 4, A Nigerian
presidential panel on oil and gas sector reform recommended that the
state oil company be transformed into an "independent limited
liability company."
(AFP, 8/4/08)
2008 Aug 8, In Nigeria police
arrested the head of a federal agency charged with developing
Nigeria's impoverished southern oil region after allegations the man
spent millions of dollars on a witch doctor in hopes vanquishing a
rival.
(AP, 8/8/08)
2008 Aug 12, Nigerian militants
claimed they had destroyed a pipeline supplying gas to a key oil
refinery in southern Rivers state.
(AFP, 8/12/08)
2008 Aug 13, Nigerian officials
said flocks of quelea birds have invaded farmlands in northern Borno
state, destroying crops that were due for harvest in two months'
time.
(AFP, 8/13/08)
2008 Aug 14, Nigeria
relinquished control of the oil-rich Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon
despite fears the handover will provoke attacks from local armed
groups who oppose it.
(Reuters, 8/14/08)
2008 Aug 15, Twelve Nigerian
militants and a naval officer were killed in a gunbattle near a
Royal Dutch Shell natural gas plant in the oil-producing Niger
Delta.
(Reuters, 8/16/08)
2008 Aug 20, Nigerian President
Umaru Musa Yar'Adua named new military chiefs dropping nearly all
appointees he inherited from his predecessor. MEND, the most
prominent armed group in Nigeria's volatile oil-rich Niger Delta,
accused the military of carrying out extra-judicial executions of 22
captured insurgents in the region. The insurgents had been captured
the previous day.
(AFP, 8/21/08)(AFP, 8/20/08)
2008 Aug 23, Environmental
experts said Nigeria and South Africa are the main emitters of
greenhouse gases in Africa, accounting for almost 90 percent of the
emissions in the continent.
(AFP, 8/23/08)
2008 Aug 24, The "Benue", a
Nigerian ship with eight crew members, was hijacked. It was owned by
service and repair firm West African Offshore Ltd (WAO).
(AFP, 8/25/08)
2008 Aug 28, In Nigeria Rashid
Ladoja, ex-governor of Oyo state (2000-2007), was arrested for
embezzling some 16 million dollars (11 million euros).
(AFP, 8/29/08)
2008 Aug 28, Iran’s Junior
trade minister Mohammadali Zeyghami said Iran is ready to share its
nuclear technology with Nigeria to help the energy-starved west
African powerhouse boost electricity generation.
(AFP, 8/29/08)
2008 Aug 30, Nigeria's main
militant group claimed that it killed at least 29 military personnel
in three separate attacks across the restive southern oil region.
The group reported that six of its own fighters were also killed in
the clashes.
(AP, 8/30/08)
2008 Sep 3, Albert J. Stanley
(65), former Halliburton executive, pleaded guilty in Houston to
orchestrating over $180 million in bribes to senior Nigerian
government officials from 1995-2004 for the construction of
liquefied natural gas facilities. The bribes began when Stanley
worked for M.W. Kellogg, a unit of Dresser Industries that was
acquired by Halliburton in 1998, when Dick Cheney served as CEO.
Stanley also pleaded guilty to taking $10.8 million in kickbacks
from a consortium of construction firms involved in the LNG
contracts.
(WSJ, 9/4/08, p.A1)
2008 Sep 5, Nigeria said it has
set up a 40-member technical committee on peace talks to end the
crisis in the oil-rich Niger Delta.
(AFP, 9/5/08)
2008 Sep 9, Militants in
Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta hijacked a vessel with five
expatriate and eight Nigerian oil workers on board. Robin Hughes
from St Margaret's Bay, Kent, was among 27 oil workers kidnapped by
militants when their vessel was hijacked. Hughes (59) was freed on
April 19, 2009.
(AFP, 9/10/08)(AFP, 4/20/09)
2008 Sep 13, A MEND statement
said the armed forces of Nigeria had begun a full scale aerial and
marine offensive on the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger
Delta (MEND) positions and neighboring Ijaw communities in Rivers
state.
(AFP, 9/13/08)
2008 Sep 14, The Movement for
the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), the main militant group
in Nigeria's southern oil region, declared a state of war after two
days of clashes with government forces, launching reprisal raids and
raising the specter of more conflict in Africa's biggest oil
producer.
(AP, 9/14/08)
2008 Sep 15, Nigerian militants
attacked a Shell-operated oil facility, killing two and forcing the
evacuation of nearly 100 staff, in a third day of fighting with
security forces in the Niger Delta. Police in northern Nigeria
arrested a Muslim preacher who claims 86 wives and 107 children,
charging him with breaking Islamic laws governing marriage.
(AP, 9/15/08)(AP, 9/16/08)
2008 Sep 16, In Nigeria
militants destroyed the Orubiri flow station operated by the Shell
Petroleum Development Company in Rivers state. The next day MEND
said it killed all the soldiers on guard at the facility and took
their weapons.
(AFP, 9/17/08)
2008 Sep 17, Armed Nigerian
militants, who have declared an "oil war" in the restive south of
the country, claimed to have blown up a major pipeline in their
latest attack on oil installations in the region. A spokesman for
Nigeria's state oil company said that militant attacks are now
cutting the country's daily oil production by about 1 million
barrels a day, 40 percent of what the country produced before the
militant campaign began three years ago.
(AP, 9/17/08)
2008 Sep 18, MEND militants in
southern Nigeria, as part of their "oil war," claimed to have
destroyed a major oil pipeline belonging to Royal Dutch Shell in the
fifth attack on the company in less than a week.
(AP, 9/19/08)
2008 Sep 19, Nigerian militants
destroyed another major oil pipeline in the Niger Delta after a week
of the most intense attacks against Africa's biggest oil and gas
industry for years.
(Reuters, 9/20/08)
2008 Sep 21, In southern
Nigeria MEND declared a ceasefire following a week of attacks on oil
industry targets.
(AFP, 9/21/08)
2008 Oct 5, MEND, the main
militant group in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta, said it had
released around 19 Nigerian oil workers kidnapped last month but was
still holding two Britons and a Ukrainian.
(Reuters, 10/5/08)
2008 Oct 6, A Nigerian UN
peacekeeper was killed when up to 60 gunmen ambushed a patrol in
Sudan's war-torn western region of Darfur.
(AFP, 10/7/08)
2008 Oct 15, The Shell
Anglo-Dutch group said a Nigerian court has ordered it to hand over
land around its giant Bonny oil terminal to the local population, a
key demand of armed rebels in the volatile region. Shell said ruling
was given some months ago but we have appealed.
(AFP, 10/15/08)
2008 Oct 16, Pirates in
southern Nigeria seized eight fishing vessels with a total of 96
crew and later threatened to seriously harm them if ransom is not
paid.
(AFP, 10/18/08)
2008 Oct 21, Amnesty
International criticized major failings in Nigeria's criminal
justice system and called on the government to immediately put in
place a moratorium on capital punishment.
(AP, 10/21/08)
2008 Oct 23, Nigeria's Supreme
Court deferred ruling on challenges to President Umaru Yar'Adua's
April 2007 election victory but did not set a date for handing down
its final judgment. Nigerian troops killed two militants in a river
clash with insurgents in the volatile oil-rich Niger Delta. 2 AK 47
rifles and ammunitions were recovered from the militants.
(Reuters, 10/23/08)(AFP, 10/24/08)
2008 Oct 25, Pirates stormed
and ransacked a French vessel in Nigeria's restive oil-rich south
but there were no casualties.
(AFP, 10/25/08)
2008 Oct 29, Nigerian President
Umaru Yar'Adua dropped 20 government ministers out of a total of 44
in a cabinet shake-up.
(AFP, 10/30/08)
2008 Nov 5, A Cameroon militia
leader said one of the 10 hostages seized by a local militia off
Cameroon's coast last week was killed in a failed rescue attempt by
Nigerian marines.
(AP, 11/5/08)
2008 Nov 6, In Nigeria at least
six navy personnel were killed in a gun battle between two rival
gangs in southern oil-rich Bayelsa state.
(AFP, 11/7/08)
2008 Nov 7, In southern Nigeria
armed rebels killed a Nigerian sailor during an overnight attack on
US giant Chevron's oil facility.
(AP, 11/7/08)
2008 Nov 7, An environmentalist
group and four Nigerians filed suit against Royal Dutch Shell PLC in
the Netherlands, claiming the company was negligent in cleaning up
oil spills in Nigeria.
(AP, 11/7/08)
2008 Nov 11, A Nigerian appeal
court sacked the governor of the southern state of Edo following
complaints of vote irregularities and declared his opponent the
winner.
(AFP, 11/11/08)
2008 Nov 14, In Nigeria 22
Filipinos were arrested by a joint army-navy patrol on the Warri
River with the vessel MT Akuada laden with its cargo of 12,500
metric tons of crude oil. On Feb 20, 2009, 13 Filipinos were
sentenced to five years each or a fine of one million naira (6,800
dollars) for stealing crude oil from the Niger delta.
(AFP, 2/21/09)
2008 Nov 16, Officials said
Nigeria's anti-drugs agency had seized 30,000 kilograms of cannabis
contained in 5,923 bags in southern Edo state earlier this week. In
June, the agency seized 80 ton of cannabis in its largest ever
single haul, in the southwestern city of Ibadan.
(AFP, 11/16/08)
2008 Nov 20, US oil group
Chevron suspended export contracts on much of its Nigerian
production after a militant attack on a key pipeline. Chevron said
it was declaring "force majeure" until December 31 following the Nov
14 attack on the pipeline which carries supplies to its Escravos
terminal in the Niger Delta.
(AFP, 11/20/08)
2008 Nov 22, In Abuja, Nigeria,
MTV launched its first-ever music award program for Africa, with
acts from across the world's poorest continent nominated for prizes
in the capital.
(AP, 11/22/08)
2008 Nov 25, Nigeria’s state
media said the country has signed a $780 million (605 million euros)
loan agreement with the World Bank to finance three projects.
(AFP, 11/25/08)
2008 Nov 26, Nigeria's food and
drug control agency NAFDAC said 25 children have died in the last
fortnight after taking a teething mixture discovered to contain a
harmful substance. Laboratory tests on the drug found out that it
contains a killer element known as diethylene glycol. The agency
shut down the premises of the Nigerian manufacturer. The death count
soon rose to 34 as more children lost their lives after being given
"My Pikin" teething syrup contaminated with diethylene glycol,
blamed for causing kidney failure.
(AFP, 11/26/08)(Reuters, 12/3/08)
2008 Nov 28, Clashes erupted in
Jos, Nigeria, after a local election dispute, leaving at least three
people dead and prompting the military to send troops into city
streets to restore order. Over the next 3 days at least 300 people
were killed and 7,000 displaced. In southern Nigeria gunmen abducted
a Scottish oil industry worker.
(AP, 11/28/08)(Econ, 12/6/08, p.64)
2008 Nov 29, In Nigeria
witnesses said hundreds of people have been killed in the central
city of Jos as Christians and Muslims clashed over the result of a
local election. The violence began following a rumor that the mostly
Muslim All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) had lost the election to
the mainly Christian federal ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP).
Over 10,000 people were displaced from their homes and sought refuge
in churches, mosques and army and police barracks.
(AP, 11/29/08)
2008 Nov 30, In Nigeria
residents delivered more bodies to the main mosque in the central
Nigerian city of Jos, bringing the death toll from two days of
clashes between Muslim and Christian gangs to around 400 people. In
July, 2009, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said more than 700 died in
clashes in Jos, and urged the prosecution of members of security
forces it accused of "arbitrary killings."
(AP, 11/30/08)(AFP, 7/20/09)
2008 Dec 1, In Nigeria some two
thousand angry youths stormed a mosque in the riot-torn city of Jos
as a top parliament official appealed for an end to religious
troubles that have left hundreds dead.
(AFP, 12/1/08)
2008 Dec 2, In Nigeria
authorities in central Plateau state announced the arrest of 16
alleged "mercenaries" from neighboring Niger. Isa Ibrahim, the
Nigerien Ambassador to Nigeria, said that those arrested had been
living in Jos for several years as water vendors.
(AFP, 12/2/08)
2008 Dec 3, In the southern
Nigerian state of Akwa Ibom one person was killed during an attack
on a convoy of Mobil Producing Nigeria (MPN), a subsidiary of US oil
group ExxonMobil.
(AFP, 12/4/08)
2008 Dec 4, Pirates attacked an
oil-services vessel before dawn off the coast of Nigeria and
kidnapped two foreign workers.
(AP, 12/4/08)
2008 Dec 12, Nigeria's Pres.
Umaru Yar'Adua vowed to speed up electoral reforms after overcoming
a legal challenge to his election and receiving a report on problems
with the country's electoral laws. The Supreme Court ruled 4-3 to
dismiss a suit by opposition leaders, but conceded that widespread
irregularities had occurred in his 2006 election.
(AFP, 12/12/08)(SSFC, 12/14/08, p.A20)
2008 Dec 13, In southern
Nigeria 5 aides of the governor Edo state were killed when their car
collided head-on with an oncoming vehicle on a road.
(AFP, 12/14/08)
2008 Dec 19, In Nigeria's Niger
Delta gunmen in speedboats attacked three oil services ships and
kidnapped at least two Russians in separate incidents. The pair
escaped on foot from a militant camp on Feb 15 and were found by
naval personnel on patrol on Feb 19.
(AP, 12/20/08)(AP, 2/19/09)
2008 It was hoped that natural
gas production would make the burning of natural gas into the
atmosphere obsolete by this time.
(SSFC, 6/3/01, p.A14)
2009 Jan 2, In southern Nigeria
an oil pipeline was blown up with dynamite.
(AP, 1/3/09)
2009 Jan 4, Gunmen hijacked a
vessel and 9 crewmen belonging to French oil services group Bourbon
off Nigeria's Niger Delta as it traveled toward a Royal Dutch Shell
offshore oilfield. The 9 crewmen: five Nigerians, two Ghanaians, one
Cameroonian and one Indonesian aboard. were released on Dec 7.
(Reuters, 1/4/09)(AP, 1/6/09)(AP, 1/7/09)
2009 Jan 6, In southern Nigeria
armed men robbed an offshore oil platform operated by a subsidiary
of US oil giant ExxonMobile although the attack did not disrupt oil
production.
(AFP, 1/7/09)
2009 Jan 10, In Nigeria leaders
of ECOWAS, West Africa's regional economic body, suspended Guinea's
membership following a military coup in the country.
(AP, 1/11/09)
2009 Jan 11, Two Nigerian
soldiers were killed and one wounded in an attack by unidentified
gunmen in the restive oil-rich Niger Delta. Police said the attack
might be connected with the police seizure of a vessel, the Sandra
Valleta, which was carrying stolen crude oil.
(AFP, 1/12/09)
2009 Jan 12, In Nigeria Susanne
Wenger (93), Austrian-born sculptress, died. She had been initiated
as a Yoruba traditional priestess and was responsible for towering
works of art in one of Nigeria's two World Heritage sites.
(AFP, 1/13/09)
2009 Jan 13, Pirates attacked a
Norwegian cable ship off the coast of Nigeria but failed to seize
the boat despite gunfire, leaving the crew of 52 unhurt.
(AFP, 1/13/09)
2009 Jan 18, Nigerian militants
attacked a loading vessel, a tanker and a tug boat at a crude oil
platform operated by Shell in Bonny and took 8 crew members hostage.
One person was killed in the attack. Nigerian rebels holding two
British oil workers said they had moved 3 British hostages to
another location after what it claimed was a botched rescue attempt
by government troops.
(AFP, 1/18/09)(AP, 1/18/09)
2009 Jan 18, Dubai said it has
reached a deal with Nigeria to invest in the African nation's
conflict-ravaged oil industry and other sectors of the economy.
(AP, 1/18/09)
2009 Jan 21, In Nigeria the
best-known militant group in the Niger Delta said one of its allies
carried out an attack on a tanker in southern Nigeria in which one
Romanian crewman was taken hostage. He was soon released. The MT
Meredith, loaded with 4,000 tons of diesel, was attacked by gunmen
in speedboats and sustained "massive damage" during the attack.
(AFP, 1/21/09)(AFP, 1/22/09)
2009 Jan 26, Halliburton said
is has agreed to pay $559 million to the US to settle charges that
one of its former units bribed Nigerian officials during the
construction of a gas plant.
(WSJ, 1/27/09, p.B3)
2009 Jan 29, In Nigeria gunmen
kidnapped a Nigerian boy (9) in the oil city of Port Harcourt,
shooting dead a domestic worker who was taking him to school.
(AP, 1/29/09)
2009 Jan 30, Nigerian militants
called off a cease-fire after clashing with government forces.
(WSJ, 1/31/09, p.A1)
2009 Feb 5, In Nigeria a
private security official said unidentified gunmen have attacked an
oil-industry vessel off the coast of Nigeria and killed its captain.
(AP, 2/5/09)
2009 Feb 6, Nigeria’s
government reported that 84 infants and children have died after
swallowing My Pikin Baby Teething Mixture, a teething syrup laced
with diethylene glycol. A failed bid to smuggle a bus filled with
rice into Nigeria from Niger left seven people dead including two
customs officers set ablaze with petrol.
(SFC, 2/7/09, p.A2)(AFP, 2/8/09)
2009 Feb 10, Nigerian union
officials said a 2-day-old strike by freight and forwarding agents
to protest high charges was worsening cargo congestion in Lagos, the
country's main seaport.
(AP, 2/10/09)
2009 Feb 13, Oil giant Royal
Dutch Shell said it has declared force majeure on shipments from its
main Nigerian terminal because of increased attacks by insurgents on
key facilities. Force Majeure (French for "superior force") is a
common clause in contracts which essentially frees both parties from
liability or obligation when an extraordinary event or circumstance
beyond the control of the parties.
(AP,
2/13/09)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force_majeure)
2009 Feb 17, In southern
Nigeria gunmen attacked two oil facilities operated by Royal Dutch
Shell. A local militant leader claimed responsibility for the attack
in a letter and threatened further violence. A Nigerian appeal court
sacked the governor of the southwestern state of Ekiti after
complaints of vote irregularities and ordered a fresh poll within
three months.
(AP, 2/17/09)(AFP, 2/18/09)
2009 Feb 18, In Nigeria gunmen
in a midnight raid attacked a compound housing ExxonMobil staff in
the Niger Delta but were repulsed after a fierce battle with
Nigerian troops.
(AFP, 2/18/09)
2009 Feb 20, Nigeria ordered
its customs service and security and environmental agencies to clamp
down on illegal imports of potentially toxic electronic waste.
(AP, 2/20/09)
2009 Feb 21, In central Nigeria
rioters burned homes, churches and mosques, when violence flared
after Muslims parked their cars in front of a church in Bauchi. The
clashes followed an argument between Christians and Muslims the
previous day. Authorities in northern Nigeria have deployed troops
and imposed a curfew following clashes between Christians and
Muslims which left at least 11 people dead.
(AP, 2/21/09)(AFP, 2/23/09)
2009 Feb 24, In Nigeria 2 days
of clashes between rival gangs in the southern state of Edo left at
least eight people dead.
(AFP, 2/26/09)
2009 Feb 25, Nigerian teachers
in the country's southwest launched an indefinite strike to press
demands for better pay.
(AFP, 2/26/09)
2009 Feb 26, In Nigeria a
source close to negotiations said US drug giant Pfizer has agreed to
settle a multi-billion dollar damages case with 200 alleged victims
of a drugs trial in Kano. Pfizer and families of the victims of the
drug trial reportedly reached an out-of-court settlement in
principle and agreed to meet in Rome in March to put the deal in
writing.
(AFP, 2/26/09)
2009 Feb 26, The Nigerian
military raided and destroyed a militant camp in the volatile Niger
Delta as part of its drive to end unrest in the oil-producing
region.
(AFP, 2/27/09)
2009 Feb 27, The UN Children's
Fund said 53 million children are being targeted by a mass
immunization drive against polio in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory
Coast, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Togo. Some 844 polio cases were
reported in the 8 countries in 2008, 95% of them in Nigeria.
(AFP, 2/27/09)
2009 Mar 4, In southern Nigeria
gunmen seized two passengers from a ferry near the Bonny Island gas
terminal. 19 others were released shortly after the ferry was
seized.
(AFP, 3/5/09)
2009 Mar 11, US authorities
deported 60 Nigerians accused of theft, credit card scams and
drug-related offences.
(AFP, 3/12/09)
2009 Mar 13, In southern
Nigeria an attack took place on Chevron Nigeria Limited’s 16-inch
Makaraba-Utonana pipeline. The attack forced Chevron cut its crude
oil production by 11,500 barrels per day.
(AFP, 3/17/09)
2009 Mar 21, Nigeria's
anti-graft agency said it was hunting down owners of an Indian
business group, Vaswani Brothers, for allegedly defrauding the
country of three billion naira in unpaid taxes. The brothers were
deported from Nigeria in 2003 after a probe into their operations,
but were allowed back into the country in 2007.
(AFP, 3/22/09)
2009 Mar 28, In Nigeria police
s outside Lagos freed a Lebanese hostage after a shoot-out in which
six of his captors were killed. The man was seized March 23 by
gunmen from a waterfront construction site in Lagos' upmarket
residential and business area.
(AFP, 3/29/09)
2009 Apr 3, In Nigeria a source
close to negotiations said Pfizer has agreed to pay $75 million
compensation over a 1996 drug trial that caused the death of 11
children in northern Nigeria. Kano state confirmed the settlement on
May 14.
(AFP, 4/3/09)(AP, 5/14/09)
2009 Apr 5, In southern Nigeria
gunmen killed a policeman as they kidnapped a Scottish oil-services
worker in Port Harcourt. The British worker was released on April
25.
(AP, 4/6/09)(AFP, 4/25/09)
2009 Apr 8, Nigeria President
Umaru Yar'Adua dismissed top managers across the board of the state
Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC).
(AFP, 4/8/09)
2009 Apr 9, Nigeria's Central
Bank cut its benchmark lending rate to 8% from 9.75% and announced
measures aimed at boosting liquidity in the market.
(AFP, 4/9/09)
2009 Apr 12, In Nigeria fire
broke out on the Trans-Niger Pipeline. All the feeder flowstations
outside Ogoniland (in Rivers State) adjoining it were shut down to
allow for repairs.
(AP, 4/13/09)
2009 Apr 13, In southern
Nigeria gunmen riding in 18 boats attacked a military houseboat
outside an oil facility and commandeered a naval vessel. The clashes
left nine militants and one naval rating dead.
(AP, 4/13/09)(AFP, 4/13/09)
2009 Apr 15, Nigeria set up a
panel to probe a multi-million dollar cash-for-contract scandal
embroiling US giant Halliburton and reportedly implicating three
former presidents.
(AP, 4/16/09)
2009 Apr 16, In northern
Nigeria a Canadian woman was seized in the city of Kaduna where she
had been attending an international conference. Julie Mulligan (45)
was freed unharmed in the northern city of Kaduna on April 29.
(AP, 4/18/09)(Reuters, 4/30/09)
2009 Apr 20, Nigerian pirates
attacked the Aleyna Mercan ship about 50 nautical miles off Onne
port, near the oil city of Port Harcourt. The vessel was delivering
equipment to French oil group Total. On April 22 the kidnappers
released the Turkish captain and the chief engineer.
(AFP, 4/23/09)
2009 Apr 21, In Nigeria
officials said a strike by petrol truck drivers has caused a
scarcity of fuel in the commercial capital Lagos, leading to long
queues at petrol stations. The strike began at the weekend following
a dispute between the tanker drivers and officials of the Lagos
state traffic management authority LASMA. Gunmen in Nigeria attacked
an oil tanker off the coast of the Niger Delta, kidnapping the
ship's captain and an engineer. The Turkish vessel Ilena Mercan,
chartered by French oil company Total, was attacked on its way to
Onne port in Nigeria's southeastern Rivers state.
(AFP, 4/21/09)(Reuters, 4/21/09)
2009 Apr 22, In Nigeria 7
high-ranking officials from the country's electricity regulatory
commission were charged with "criminal diversion" of state funds.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) accused chairman
Ransome Owan and six of the agency's commissioners of diverting for
their private use about five billion naira ($33 million/26 million
euros).
(AFP, 4/23/09)
2009 Apr 23, In Nigeria unknown
gunmen kidnapped Peter Ademokhai, a retired army general, from his
farm in the southern state of Edo.
(AFP, 4/25/09)
2009 May 8, In Nigeria the
governor of southern oil-rich Rivers state signed a law making life
jail terms mandatory for kidnappers in the area.
(AFP, 5/9/09)
2009 May 13, Nigerian MEND
rebels hijacked an oil industry ship and held 15 Filipino sailors
hostage. They demanded that all oil workers leave the southern Niger
Delta by May 16.
(AP, 5/14/09)
2009 May 15, In Nigeria the
rebel Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND)
declared "all-out war" in the southern oil-producing region. The
Nigerian military rescued 10 hostages from militants in the southern
oil region and destroyed the camp where the victims were being held.
(AFP, 5/15/09)(AP, 5/16/09)
2009 May 17, Nigeria's main
militant group said it destroyed two oil pipelines in the southern
Niger Delta, the latest attack amid the worst outbreak of violence
to hit the region in months. MEND accused government troops of
killing a second unnamed hostage and said two bodies would be handed
over to the Red Cross. An army spokesman said Nigerian troops have
freed three more Filipinos held hostage by militants in the Niger
Delta, bringing the total number of the Asians rescued in the past
two days to nine.
(AP, 5/17/09)(AFP, 5/17/09)
2009 May 18, Nigerian
university teachers decided to go on strike to demand the
implementation of a pay agreement with government. After
two-and-a-half years of negotiations, the government had yet to
implement the agreement on pay rises and upgrading of facilities in
the universities.
(AFP, 5/19/09)
2009 May 22, Nigeria's foreign
minister said that the military has rescued 12 hostages, eight
Filipinos and four Ukrainians, from militants being targeted by the
armed forces in the southern oil region. The military said a dozen
troops had gone missing in the region.
(AP, 5/23/09)
2009 May 24, The Nigerian army
said that over the last 2 days it freed a total of six Filipinos
held hostage in the oil-rich Niger Delta.
(AFP, 5/24/09)
2009 May 25, In Nigeria
militants sabotaged major crude pipelines in the chaotic oil region,
further trimming crude production as the military widened an
operation to uproot the fighters. Chevron in Nigeria reported a
100,000 barrel-per-day oil output cut after a militant attack the
day before on one of its pipelines in the southern Delta state. The
militants said they had released three Filipino hostages seized this
month.
(AP, 5/25/09)(AFP, 5/25/09)
2009 May 26, The Nigerian army
said it destroyed a militants' camp in the restive Niger Delta as it
kept up operations to stem the violence and kidnappings of soldiers
and foreigners in the oil-rich region.
(AFP, 5/26/09)
2009 May 27, In Nigeria Ken
Niweigha, a gang leader from the restive oil-rich Niger Delta, was
killed in southern state of Bayelsa, a day after being arrested.
Niweigha was accused of being behind the 1999 shooting of several
police officers in Bayelsa that led to the town of Odi being razed
by the security forces in reprisal.
(AFP, 5/27/09)
2009 Jun 1, In Nigeria MEND,
main militant group in southern Nigeria said, it will release Mathew
Maguire, a British hostage it has been holding for the past nine
months. They noted that today was Maguire birthday. The next day
MEND said "Mr Mathew Maguire has declined the gift of a release from
captivity with an argument that he is now an advocate for change in
the region and a honorary member of the Movement for the
Emancipation of the Niger Delta ." Nigeria's navy killed seven
militants in a gunbattle in the Niger Delta.
(AFP, 6/1/09)(AFP, 6/2/09)(AFP, 6/3/09)
2009 Jun 4, Nigerian President
Umaru Yar’Adua made a new offer of amnesty to militants in the
oil-rich Niger Delta, after earlier rejection by armed opponents.
(AFP, 6/4/09)
2009 Jun 6, Somali pirates
released the Yenegoa Ocean, a Nigerian tugboat they hijacked 10
months ago on Aug 4, 2008. A Dutch navy ship escorted it to a safe
harbor.
(AP, 6/7/09)
2009 Jun 9, In Nigeria MEND
(Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta) set a pumping
station of US oil giant Chevron on fire. Government troops killed
seven civilians in a waterway at Kangbene community in Delta state
according to a MEND claim on June 12. The military denied the
incident.
(AFP, 6/10/09)(AFP, 6/12/09)
2009 Jun 12, In Nigeria MEND
rebels breached Chevron’s Makaraba-Utonana-Abiteye pipeline and
started a fire at the Makaraba Jacket 5 facility in Delta State.
MEND also released a British oil sector worker who had been held for
nine months.
(AFP, 6/13/09)
2009 Jun 15, Armed militants in
Nigeria's Niger Delta claimed more attacks against facilities run by
US oil giant Chevron and warned FIFA against letting the country
host the under-17 World Cup tournament.
(AP, 6/15/09)
2009 Jun 15, Nigerian Petroleum
Development Company (NPDC) and China's state oil firm SIPEC said
they have discovered crude oil in Niger Delta region.
(AFP, 6/15/09)
2009 Jun 16, Nigerian President
Umaru Yar’Adua made a fresh amnesty offer in Abuja to militants in
the oil-rich Niger Delta and promised that an amnesty centre would
be set up.
(AFP, 6/16/09)
2009 Jun 17, In Nigeria a
Ukrainian plane made an emergency landing due to technical problems
in the northern city of Kano. Eighteen crates of mines and
ammunition, destined for Equatorial Guinea, were found aboard the
aircraft. The crew and a Nigerian collaborator were detained and
soon transferred to Abuja for questioning.
(AFP, 6/22/09)
2009 Jun 17, Royal Dutch Shell
said it had deferred shipments of crude oil from its Nigerian
Forcados exports terminal for two months due to delays in repairing
a key pipeline damaged by vandals.
(AFP, 6/17/09)
2009 Jun 18, Nigeria's main
militant group said it had destroyed a major crude oil pipeline
belonging to Royal Dutch Shell as it fights a campaign against
foreign oil companies.
(AFP, 6/18/09)
2009 Jun 19, Nigeria's main
militant group said it had destroyed a major pipeline supplying
crude oil to Italian oil group Agip's Brass exports terminal.
(AFP, 6/19/09)
2009 Jun 21, Nigeria's main
militant group said it had attacked a Shell offshore facility, the
third attack against the Anglo-Dutch company's facilities in Nigeria
in one day. The company denied the incident, saying the alleged
incident was part of the attack on two other Shell oil pipelines in
southern Rivers state earlier in the day.
(AFP, 6/21/09)
2009 Jun 24, The Nigerian
government met with militants from the oil-producing states of the
Delta to make an amnesty offer for fighters who cease hostilities in
the south of the country. President Umaru Yar'Adua ordered the
release of the leader of a militant group from the oil-rich Niger
Delta. Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, head of the Niger Delta People's
Volunteers Force (NDPVF), was arrested the previous evening on
returning from a medical exam in Germany.
(AFP, 6/24/09)
2009 Jun 24, Russia’s Pres.
Medvedev arrived in Nigeria to sign gas and nuclear energy pacts,
becoming the first Kremlin leader to visit Africa's most populous
and energy-rich nation.
(AFP, 6/24/09)
2009 Jun 25, Nigerian rebels
said that they carried out a pre-dawn attack against Royal Dutch
Shell facilities in a warning to Russia not to invest in the
country's oil and gas industry. Later in the day the main militant
group blew up a well-head in a Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) oil field
in Delta state, hours after President Umaru Yar'Adua announced an
amnesty offer for gunmen.
(AFP, 6/25/09)(Reuters, 6/26/09)
2009 Jun 26, Four Nigerian
militant factions accepted in principle an amnesty offer from
President Umaru Yar'Adua, giving a boost to his efforts to end years
of unrest in Africa's biggest oil industry. The amnesty will take
effect from August 6.
(Reuters, 6/26/09)
2009 Jun 28, In Nigeria at
least eight people were killed in the collapse of a three-story
building in Lagos, the capital.
(AP, 6/29/09)
2009 Jun 29, Nigerian rebels
announced a new raid against a Shell oil facility and said they had
killed at least 20 soldiers in a gun battle, a claim denied by the
security forces.
(AFP, 6/29/09)
2009 Jul 1, Nigeria's President
Umaru Yar'Adua extended an amnesty offer to the jailed rebel leader
Henry Okah, detained on treason charges for over 18 months.
(AP, 7/1/09)
2009 Jul 3, Algeria, Niger and
Nigeria signed an accord to build a 10-billion-dollar trans-Saharan
gas pipeline linking vast reserves in Nigeria to Europe.
(AFP, 7/3/09)
2009 Jul 4, Nigeria's rebel
group MEND threatened to thwart a 10-billion-dollar trans-Saharan
gas pipeline linking vast reserves in Nigeria to Europe. The army
vowed to protect the project. Rebels Sichem Peace oil tanker
and its six crew members. The ship and crew were freed July 21 after
spending 18 days in captivity in the Niger Delta.
(AFP, 7/4/09)(AP, 7/22/09)
2009 Jul 5, Nigerian rebels
announced they had launched a fresh attack on an oil facility run by
the Anglo-Dutch group Shell in the restive Niger Delta. The
militants destroyed a Chevron oil pipeline junction in the latest
attack on Nigeria's key money earner since the government offered an
amnesty.
(AP, 7/5/09)(AFP, 7/6/09)
2009 Jul 8, Nigerian MEND
militants said they blew up two key oil pipelines as they stepped up
attacks in response to a government amnesty offer.
(AFP, 7/8/09)
2009 Jul 9, In Nigeria Henry
Okah, a key militant in Nigeria's southern Niger Delta detained
since September 2007, accepted President Umaru Yar'Adua recent offer
of unconditional amnesty. Armed robbers killed six police officers
as they fled after a raid on a commercial bank at Idi-Iroko, a
Nigerian border town with Benin.
(AFP, 7/10/09)
2009 Jul 10, Nigerian militants
claimed to have blown up for a second time a recently repaired oil
pipeline operated by US petroleum giant Chevron.
(AP, 7/11/09)
2009 Jul 12, Nigerian rebels
took their battle with the government into the country's main city,
targeting an oil tanker loading facility in Lagos harbor in an
unprecedented attack there.
(AFP, 7/13/09)
2009 Jul 14, Nigeria's main
militant group declared a 60-day truce, effective July 15, in its
"oil war" with the government after the release of its leader Henry
Okah under an amnesty deal.
(AFP, 7/15/09)
2009 Jul 23, In Nigeria Wole
Soyinka, 1986 Nobel laureate in literature, slammed Nigeria's
handling of the crisis in the oil region and urged the government to
adopt a "holistic" approach in tackling it. Excepts of the news
conference were reported the next day on private Channels
television.
(AFP, 7/24/09)
2009 Jul 26, In northern
Nigeria Islamist militants attacked a police station in Bauchi.
Police killed over 50 militants and arrested more than 150 others.
The fundamentalists, known as Boko Haram (education is prohibited)
in the local Hausa language, clamored for the prohibition of western
education in Bauchi and Yobe states. In 2010 Nigerian police said 32
of its men were murdered in the Bauchi attack.
(AP, 7/26/09)(Reuters, 7/26/09)(Econ, 8/1/09,
p.44)(AFP, 7/29/10)
2009 Jul 27, In Nigeria
Residents of Gamboru-Ngala in Borno state said heavily armed members
of a Nigerian Taliban sect stormed the town and went on the rampage,
burning a police headquarters, a church and a customs post. Police
put the death toll in weekend religious clashes at 65, including 5
police officers.
(AP, 7/27/09)
2009 Jul 28, Nigerian
authorities imposed curfews and poured security forces onto the
streets of several northern towns after a two-day wave of Islamic
militant attacks against police killed dozens of people.
(AP, 7/28/09)
2009 Jul 29, In northern
Nigeria troops struggled to crush an Islamist sect as the death toll
from four days of clashes surged past 300. Thousands of people were
forced from their homes. Militants attacked security forces in Yobe
state. Police said that 43 sect members were killed in a shootout
near the city of Potiskum. The government, which blames the Boko
Haram sect for instigating days of violence in the mostly Muslim
region, shelled and stormed the group's mosque and headquarters in
Maiduguri. Sect leader Mohammed Yusuf escaped along with about 300
followers but his deputy was killed.
(AFP, 7/29/09)(AP, 7/30/09)
2009 Jul 29, Drug maker Pfizer
Inc. confirmed that it has resolved a long-running legal dispute
with the Nigerian government over allegations that children there
were harmed in a 1996 Pfizer study of an experimental antibiotic
during a meningitis outbreak. The settlement reportedly called for a
$75 million payment by Pfizer.
(AP, 7/29/09)
2009 Jul 30, In northern
Nigeria security forces hunted door-to-door for Islamic militants
after killing more than 100 of them by storming the sect's compound.
A top rights group said innocent people were getting executed in the
process. Mohammed Yusuf (39), the leader of the Boko Haram movement,
was shot dead while in police detention. In February, 2011, seven
suspects accused of killing Yusuf were arraigned in a federal court.
(AP, 7/30/09)(Reuters, 7/31/09)(AP, 7/19/11)
2009 Jul 31, Nigeria's national
police claimed victory over a radical Islamist sect after its leader
was killed by security forces. Experts warned revenge attacks could
occur and a leading human rights group demanded a probe into the
killing. At least 300 people were killed in violence that erupted in
several states around northern Nigeria since July 26.
(Reuters, 7/31/09)
2009 Aug 1, In Nigeria robbers
hijacked the bus on Sagamu-Benin expressway in Ogun State and forced
passengers to lie on a road at gunpoint as they ransacked their bus.
20 people were crushed to death as a truck ran into them.
(AFP, 8/2/09)
2009 Aug 2, Red Cross and
Nigerian defense officials said more than 700 people were killed
during a 5-day uprising by a radical Islamic sect in the north. Over
700 dead bodies were given mass burial in Maiduguri town alone, as a
search for bodies continued.
(Reuters, 8/2/09)
2009 Aug 4, The Lithuanian
ministry said that the Lithuanian-flagged refrigerator vessel
Saturnas, with a crew of 14, was attacked by unidentified
perpetrators off the coast of Nigeria. Five crew members were said
to have been taken hostage. The attackers did not seize the vessel
itself but left in a high-speed boat with the hostages. The 5
Lithuanian sailors were reported freed on Aug 14, ending their
11-day ordeal.
(AFP, 8/4/09)(AFP, 8/14/09)
2009 Aug 6, Nigeria began a
60-day amnesty for militants fighting in the country's oil-rich
Delta region, a government official said, but the main militant
group said it would not participate. A cache of weapons and
ammunitions was uncovered at an arms depot owned by Niger Delta
militant leader Mujahid Dokubo-Asari in Port Harcourt.
(AP, 8/6/09)(AFP, 8/7/09)
2009 Aug 6, Nigeria's northern
Kano state withdrew a landmark criminal and civil suit against US
drug group Pfizer over a 1996 drug trial that left 11 children dead
and 189 others deformed. The withdrawal of the suit followed a
75-million dollar (52 million euros) out-of-court settlement between
the two parties.
(AFP, 8/6/09)
2009 Aug 7, Nigeria's President
Umaru Yar'Adua formally received the first set of 32 Niger Delta
militants who have surrendered their arms under an amnesty he
offered them in June and commended them for their "patriotism."
(AP, 8/8/09)
2009 Aug 12, In Nigeria US
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton encouraged the government to take
a firmer line on corruption and offered US help to implement badly
needed electoral reforms in Africa's biggest energy producer.
(Reuters, 8/12/09)
2009 Aug 14, Nigeria’s banking
chief said the government will inject US$2.55 billion into five
troubled banks, in Africa's first major bank rescue program since
the global credit crunch began. Central Bank Chief Sanusi Lamido
Sanusi also announced the sacking of the heads of five major banks
for piling up debts worth billions of dollars and poor management.
The heads of Afribank plc, Intercontinental Bank plc, Union Bank
plc, Oceanic Bank plc and Finbank plc were removed by Sanusi. The
Nigerian anti-graft agency soon froze the accounts of the sacked
directors for running the institutions into insolvency.
(AP, 8/14/09)(AFP, 8/22/09)
2009 Aug 14, In Nigeria the
number of polio cases caused by the vaccine was reported to have
doubled so far this year with 124 children paralyzed, compared to 62
in 2008, out of about 42 million children vaccinated. For every case
of paralysis, hundreds of other children don't develop symptoms, but
pass on the disease.
(AP, 8/14/09)
2009 Aug 15, Nigeria's
anti-graft agency said it had recovered more than 50 billion naira
($320.5 million / €224.2 million) in looted funds and secured 70
convictions in the past year. Police in the western Nigerian state
of Niger raided the Darul Islam community and detained hundreds of
its members, weeks after an uprising by a radical sect killed almost
800 in the remote northeast. Sect leader Amrul Bashir Abdullahi
said: "We decided to create a camp for ourselves outside the
community because of the problems in the larger society. These are
problems of corruption, drunkenness, prostitution and so on which
Allah forbids."
(AFP, 8/15/09)(Reuters, 8/16/09)
2009 Aug 22, In Nigeria a top
militant commander and nearly 1,000 of his followers surrendered to
the government, handing over rocket launchers, gunboats, guns and
bullets in the biggest move since a government amnesty began two
weeks ago. Ebikabowei "Boyloaf" Victor Ben, state commander for the
region's biggest armed group, the Movement for the Emancipation of
the Niger Delta (MEND), and 25 commanders under his leadership
delivered weapons to police overnight.
(AP, 8/22/09)
2009 Aug 24, Nigeria's
anti-graft agency EFCC declared two sacked bank directors wanted
over alleged frauds and running their institutions into insolvency.
(AFP, 8/24/09)
2009 Aug 26, Nigerian
authorities arrested two dozen people wanted over massive debts owed
to troubled banks in a scandal that has rocked the country's
financial industry.
(AFP, 8/26/09)
2009 Aug 31, The Nigerian
anti-graft agency filed charges against 16 bank chiefs arrested for
incurring billions of dollars in bad loans for five ailing banks.
(AFP, 8/31/09)
2009 Sep 5, Gani Fawehinmi (71)
prominent Nigerian lawyer and rights activist died in Lagos after a
prolonged battle with cancer. Fawehinmi, holder of Nigeria's highest
legal title, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), was an author,
publisher, philanthropist, social critic, human and civil rights
lawyer and politician.
(AFP, 9/5/09)
2009 Sep 16, Nigerian militants
(MEND) announced they will extend a cease-fire that expired
overnight by one month, holding off on attacks on oil installations
and kidnapping foreigners, but warned that the government must
address the group's grievances.
(AP, 9/16/09)
2009 Sep 19, Nigeria’s
Information Minister Dora Akunyili said she's asked movie houses to
stop screening "District 9" because the South Africa-based sci-fi
movie about aliens and discrimination makes Nigerians look bad.
Akunyili said she has asked Sony for an apology and wants them to
edit out the Nigerian antagonists and the name of the main Nigerian
gangster Obesandjo, whose name closely resembles that of former
President Olusegun Obasanjo. The film brought in some US$37 million
(euro25.16 million) during its US debut weekend in August.
(AP, 9/19/09)
2009 Sep 20, In Nigeria Bayo
Ohu (45), assistant news editor at the influential Guardian
newspaper, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen as he answered a
knock at the front door of his house in a northern suburb of Lagos.
On March 15, 2010, police detained three suspects for the murder of
Ohu.
(AFP, 9/22/09)(AFP, 3/15/10)
2009 Sep, Nigeria launched a
multi-million-dollar dredging exercise to boost navigation and
commerce on the Niger River. Then government planned to construct
seven ports to serve the 152 host communities along the river.
(AFP, 11/8/09)
2009 Oct 1, In Nigeria Tom
Ateke, leader of Niger Delta Vigilante, an ethnic Ijaw militia
group, formally accepted an amnesty offer in a meeting with Nigerian
President Umaru Yar'Adua.
(AFP, 10/1/09)
2009 Oct 1, A Nigerian official
said 9 people died and several others were hospitalized this week
following a cholera outbreak in northern Taraba State, bringing the
death toll in the region to 97 over the last few weeks.
(AFP, 10/2/09)
2009 Oct 2, The Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN) sacked the managing directors of three banks which it
said were in "grave situation", seven weeks after it applied similar
sanctions to the heads of five other banks.
(AFP, 10/2/09)
2009 Oct 3, In Nigeria Farah
Dagogo, a former commander of the country's main militant group,
said that he and other field commanders in Rivers state have
surrendered all of their weapons. The Movement for the Emancipation
of the Niger Delta (MEND) said it has already replaced the
commanders who have surrendered. The group has said it would not
accept an amnesty deal. Loyalists of Government Ekpemupolo,
popularly known as Tompolo, filled up boats from the oil city of
Warri and made for Oporoza camp, a two-hour boat ride, to witness
him giving up his weapons.
(AP, 10/4/09)(AFP, 10/4/09)
2009 Oct 7, In Nigeria the
armed Niger Delta militant group MEND dismissed a government amnesty
program as a "charade" and warned it would resume attacks on oil
facilities once its ceasefire expires next week.
(AFP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 4, In Nigeria an
amnesty for militant in the Niger Delta officially expired.
(Econ, 10/24/09, p.57)
2009 Oct 8, Nigerian officials
said more than 8,000 militants who laid down arms in the troubled
oil hub have so far been registered and that the number could double
when the documentation is complete. The grand total was later
thought to exceed 15,000.
(AFP, 10/8/09)(Econ, 10/24/09, p.57)
2009 Oct 9, In southeastern
Nigeria some 70-80 people died when a petroleum tanker truck
exploded and set nine other vehicles alight on a road. At least five
minibuses packed with up to 18 passengers each and two cars were
incinerated by the fireball. The truck had toppled and leaked into a
deep pothole and then exploded after a car crashed into it.
(Reuters, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 15, Nigeria’s central
bank said ex-vice president Atiku Abubakar is among more than 600
debtors owing five troubled banks some 450 billion naira (2.96
billion dollars, 2 billion euros). Abubakar, who was deputy to
former president Olusegun Obasanjo (1999-2007), owed Spring Bank
111.15 million naira (731,490 dollars, 491,592 euros). The CBN also
listed billionaire tycoon Aliko Dangote (52) and Mohammed Buba
Marwa, Nigeria's ambassador to South Africa, as major debtors.
(AFP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 15, Nigeria's most
high-profile armed group MEND threatened to resume attacks on the
country's oil sector when a unilateral ceasefire lapses at midnight.
(AFP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 16, Nigeria’s
anti-graft agency EFCC arrested two sacked bank chiefs and a senior
stockbroker for alleged fraud running into several millions of
dollars. EFCC said the former managing director of Bank PHB, Francis
Atuche, Charles Ojo of Finbank and Peter Ololo of Falcon Securities
would be prosecuted for alleged fraud and granting loans without
collateral.
(AFP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 16, In northern
Nigeria the toll in a cholera outbreak rose to 149 with 52 more
deaths recorded. The disease was first reported on September 10 in
Gwoza local government on the border with Cameroon from where it
spread to six other districts.
(AFP, 10/16/09)
2009 Oct 17, It was reported
that an increasing number of children in Africa are being accused of
witchcraft by pastors of evangelical Christianity and then tortured
or killed, often by family members. Pastors were involved in half of
200 cases of "witch children" reviewed by the AP, and 13 churches
were named in the case files. Campaigners against the practice said
around 15,000 children have been accused in two of Nigeria's 36
states over the past decade and around 1,000 have been murdered.
(AP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 19, Nigeria reported
plans to offer inhabitants of its oil-producing Niger Delta region
10% of oil and gas ventures in a bid to end a rebellion that has
hampered output for years.
(AFP, 10/19/09)
2009 Oct 20, Nigeria’s main
rebel group, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta
(MEND), expressed cautious optimism after a landmark meeting between
its leader and President Umaru Yar'Adua.
(AFP, 10/20/09)
2009 Oct 25, Oil-rich Nigeria's
main militant group (MEND) called an indefinite cease-fire to
encourage dialogue with the government.
(AP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 26, A key member of
Nigeria's ruling party and close associate of former president
Olusegun Obasanjo was sentenced to a total of 28 years in jail for
corruption. Bode George and five co-accused "were given 28 years on
the charges, but will serve two-and-half years since the sentences
will run concurrently." George and five other directors of Nigeria
Ports Plc were found guilty of fraud and contract inflation while
serving on the board of the state-run company during Obasanjo's
regime from 1999 to 2007.
(AFP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 26, Nigeria signed a
deal worth almost a billion dollars with a state-owned Chinese
engineering firm to resuscitate part of its dilapidated railway
system.
(AFP, 10/26/09)
2009 Oct 27, In Nigeria the
78-year-old father of ex-Central Bank of Nigeria governor Charles
Soludo was seized from his home. He was released on Nov 4. Soludo,
who left office in June, was last month controversially nominated
candidate for the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) for
upcoming state governorship elections. Aggrieved aspirants contested
the nomination in the courts.
(AFP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 4, A Nigerian senior
health official said a fresh cholera outbreak has killed 20 people
and left 200 others infected in northern Adamawa State in the past
week.
(AFP, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 10, Nigerian football
star Stephen Worgu (20) was fined and sentenced to 40 lashes in
Sudan after being convicted of drunk driving in Khartoum. Worgu said
he was stopped by police driving home late from dinner at a friend's
house in August. No tests were done but officers told the court they
had smelled the home-brewed spirit aragi on his breath.
(Reuters, 11/12/09)
2009 Nov 14, Nigeria's
president held "frank and fruitful" talks with former oil rebel
leaders in an effort to end the conflict in the Niger Delta region.
(AFP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 18, In Uganda a new 12
million dollar family planning drive was launched in Kampala
highlighting how Obama administration funding has revamped a
contraception drive in Africa and developing states. Uganda,
Ethiopia, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania and Kenya will share in the
12-million dollar funding, but international organizations still
have to persuade certain African governments that it is in their
interest to curb population growth.
(AFP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 19, The European
Commission signed a 677 million euro (one billion dollar) deal in
Brussels to help Nigeria tackle challenges in its restive
oil-producing region, promoting peace.
(AFP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 20, Swiss authorities
said that they had ordered some 350 million dollars of assets to be
seized from the son of the late Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha for
graft.
(AFP, 11/20/09)
2009 Dec 3, Nigerian AIDS and
malaria activists said at least 144 women die each day in Nigeria
during pregnancy or childbirth, according to the UN and World Bank
statistics. Activists premiered three short but hard-hitting
Nollywood films to push for an urgent change in attitude and
provision of adequate healthcare services to avoid pregnancy-related
problems.
(AFP, 12/4/09)
2009 Dec 9, Amnesty
International said that police in Nigeria carry out hundreds of
extra-judicial killings every year and only those who can afford to
pay bribes can guarantee their safety from execution or torture.
(AFP, 12/9/09)
2009 Dec 14, In Nigeria 23
people burned to death when a bus carrying mourners to a funeral
collided with a truck on a road in southwest Oyo state.
(AFP, 12/14/09)
2009 Dec 16, Nigerian
authorities announced the creation of five committees that will
address oil, environmental and disarmament issues, following an
amnesty in the southern Niger Delta.
(AFP, 12/17/09)
2009 Dec 17, A Nigerian judge
dismissed a 170-count indictment that accused former Delta state
governor James Ibori, of corruption and money laundering. Ibori was
also a financial backer of President Umaru Yar'Adua.
(AP, 12/17/09)
2009 Dec 18, In Nigeria fresh
clashes began between farmers and nomads leaving at least 32 people
killed and scores of houses were burnt in central Nassarawa
State.
(AFP, 12/21/09)
2009 Dec 19, Nigerian militants
said they had carried out their first attack on an oil pipeline
since an amnesty offer because the absence of Pres. Yar'Adua was
delaying peace talks. A truck carrying bags of cement crushed and
killed at least 55 people when the driver lost control and ran into
a crowd on a road in Dekina, in central Kogi state.
(Reuters, 12/19/09)(AFP, 12/20/09)
2009 Dec 20, In Nigeria 12
people were burned to death when the two vehicles they were
traveling in collided and burst into flames at Sabongida-Tasharanda
in Bauchi State. A separate crash in neighboring Gombe State killed
9 people and injured five others in a head-on collision between a
commuter bus and a car at Lafiyawo village.
(AFP, 12/21/09)
2009 Dec 23, In northern
Nigeria a truck packed with cattle and people collided with a car,
killing 18 people and injuring 22 others in the town of Talata
Mafara.
(AFP, 12/24/09)
2009 Dec 25, An attempted
bombing took place as Northwest Airlines Flight 253 from Amsterdam
prepared to land in Detroit just before noon. Law enforcement
officials identified the suspect as Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (23),
a Nigerian man, who claimed to be acting on orders from al-Qaida to
blow up the airliner with a bomb sewed into his underwear.
Abdulmutallab later told US investigators he had received training
and instructions from al-Qaida operatives in Yemen. On Oct 12, 2011,
Abdulmutallab pleaded guilty to all federal counts against him.
(AP, 12/26/09)(AFP, 12/29/09)(AP, 1/2/10)(SFC,
10/13/11, p.A8)
2009 Dec 28, In northern
Nigeria fighting between Islamic militants and security forces in
Bauchi state left at least 70 people dead as Kala Kato sect members
armed with spears and arrows ransacked a neighborhood and set homes
ablaze.
(AP, 12/29/09)(AFP, 12/30/09)(Econ, 1/30/10,
p.56)
2009 Dec 30, A Nigerian
official says the nation will purchase 3-D, full body scanners after
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab passed through Nigeria's biggest airport
before trying to bring down a US-bound flight on Christmas Day.
(AP, 12/30/09)
2009 Nigeria’s population
reached about 160 million, making it Africa’s most populous country.
(Econ, 11/14/09, p.31)
2010 Jan 4, Nigerian soldiers
shot 2 contract workers dead and injured 4 others at a Chevron plant
under construction. This led to a riot and left several buildings
destroyed and halted operations at the southern Escravos gas
project.
(www.poten.com/NewsDetails.aspx?id=10293513)(SFC,
1/7/10, p.A2)
2010 Jan 8, In Nigeria a
crude-oil pipeline operated by Chevron was attacked by unknown
gunmen in the Niger Delta region.
(AFP, 1/9/10)
2010 Jan 12, Nigerian lawmakers
voted to send a delegation to Saudi Arabia to discuss "issues of
national importance" with ailing President Umaru Yar'Adua as
protests mounted for him to stand down. Gunmen seized 3 Britons and
a Colombian, shooting dead their police escort in the first major
kidnapping for six months in southern Niger Delta. Gunmen soon
demanded a ransom of 300 million naira (1.98 million dollars, 1.38
million euros) for the release of three Britons and the Colombian.
On Jan 18 gunmen freed the 3 British expatriate workers and their
Colombian colleague.
(AFP, 1/12/10)(AFP, 1/15/10)(AFP, 1/18/10)
2010 Jan 13, A Nigerian high
court ruled that Vice President Goodluck Jonathan can take executive
powers in the absence of ailing President Umaru Yar'Adua, in
hospital in Saudi Arabia since November.
(AP, 1/13/10)
2010 Jan 17, In Nigeria clashes
took place in the central city of Jos as tensions reignited between
Muslims and Christian gangs, a year after similar fighting killed
hundreds of its residents. Angry Muslim youths set a Catholic church
filled with worshippers ablaze, starting a riot that killed at least
27 people and wounded more than 300 others.
(Reuters, 1/17/10)(AP, 1/18/10)
2010 Jan 19, In Nigeria
religious violence between Christians and Muslims erupted again in
central Nigeria. Gregory Anyating, Plateau state's police
commissioner, declared a 24-hour curfew as the number of dead
reached close to 150 in 3 days of violence.
(Reuters, 1/19/10)
2010 Jan 20, In Jos, Nigeria,
charred bodies with scorched hands reaching skyward lay in the
streets and a mosque with blackened minarets smoldered after several
days of fighting between Christians and Muslims killed more than 200
people.
(AP, 1/20/10)
2010 Jan 21, In Nigeria
religious leaders in Jos prepared for mass burials after four days
of Christian-Muslim clashes left nearly 300 dead.
(AFP, 1/21/10)
2010 Jan 23, In central Nigeria
a village headman said at least 150 bodies were recovered from wells
following deadly Muslim-Christian clashes, taking the unofficial
death toll past 400.
(AFP, 1/23/10)
2010 Jan 24, In Nigeria the
head of the Roman Catholic Church in Jos condemned clashes between
Christians and Muslims there which are said to have claimed more
than 450 lives. Reverend Peter Imasuen, the Anglican bishop of Benin
City, was kidnapped in southern state of Edo shortly after saying
mass.
(AFP, 1/24/10)(AFP, 1/25/10)
2010 Jan 25, A Nigerian state
police commissioner said sectarian violence between Christians and
Muslims in Jos left 326 people dead last week. Police in central
Plateau state have arrested 303 suspects from last week's
inter-religious violence. In southwestern Ogun State gunmen shot
dead Chief Dipo Dina, a prominent opposition politician, amid rising
tensions ahead of general elections next year.
(AP, 1/25/10)(AFP, 1/26/10)
2010 Jan 26, A Nigerian naval
helicopter crashed in the Niger Delta, likely killing the four
people onboard.
(AP, 1/26/10)
2010 Jan 27, In Nigeria Shehu
Sani, president of the Civil Rights Congress in Nigeria, said
chilling text messages urged both Christians and Muslims to commit
violence during rioting that left more than 300 people dead. He said
his group has collected about 150 text messages that were sent
before and during the violence in Jos.
(AP, 1/27/10)
2010 Jan 29, A Nigerian court
rejected a demand by top lawyers that a caretaker head of state be
appointed until ailing President Umaru Yar’Adua returns from
hospital treatment in Saudi Arabia.
(AFP, 1/29/10)
2010 Jan 30, Nigeria's main
rebel group called off a truce in the oil-rich Niger Delta,
threatening an "all-out onslaught" and adding to the country’s
political and economic woes. A leak was observed on the Anglo-Dutch
Trans-Ramos pipeline. The leak was stopped and an investigation
confirmed the leak was due to a sabotage. Anglo-Dutch oil group
Shell shut down some oil production following the sabotage.
(AFP, 1/30/10)(AFP, 2/1/10)
2010 Feb 6, Nigerians voted to
choose a governor for the politically turbulent state of Anambra in
a race expected to test the country's readiness to hold credible
presidential polls next year. The next day the Independent Electoral
Commission (INEC) declared Peter Obi of the opposition All
Progressives Grand Alliance victor despite glitches and fears the
vote would be rigged in favor of President Umaru Yar'Adua's party.
(AFP, 2/6/10)(AFP, 2/7/10)
2010 Feb 9, Nigeria's
Parliament empowered Vice President Goodluck Jonathan to take over
for ailing President Umaru Yar'Adua, whose absence has stoked
unrest.
(AP, 2/9/10)
2010 Feb 10, Nigerian Vice
President Goodluck Jonathan removed the powerful justice minister in
his first major step since assuming executive powers in the absence
of President Umaru Yar'Adua. Outgoing Justice Minister and Attorney
General Michael Aondoakaa had been among the group of ministers who
held out most strenuously against formally transferring power to
Jonathan.
(Reuters, 2/10/10)
2010 Feb 13, In Nigeria at
least 20 bus passengers were killed in Port Harcourt when a cable
fell onto the bus and electrocuted the people inside.
(AP, 2/13/10)
2010 Feb 22, In Nigeria
Abdullahi Adamu, the former governor of Nasarawa state, was arrested
for allegedly embezzling $100 million of government money meant for
public projects. He was currently serving as secretary to the board
of trustees of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), Nigeria's ruling
political party.
(AP, 2/23/10)
2010 Feb 24, Nigeria's ailing
Pres. Umaru Yar'Adua returned home after a three-month stay in a
Saudi Arabian hospital. An advisor said the leader needed time to
recuperate and so the vice president would remain in charge.
(AP, 2/24/10)
2010 Feb 24, French oil giant
Total said it is to invest seven billion dollars (5.16 billion
euros) in Nigerian oil and gas exploration and production over the
next four to five years.
(AFP, 2/24/10)
2010 Mar 1, In Nigeria a
spokesman said police detained 17 officers over the weekend for
questioning after the Al-Jazeera news channel aired a video on Feb 9
showing uniformed men executing people in Boko Haram town where
religious rioting left 700 people dead last year. Gunmen attacked a
van carrying 21 people working for the network's SuperSport channels
after the crew filmed a soccer match in the Niger Delta. One of
three kidnapped sports journalists escaped his captors.
(AP, 3/1/10)(AP, 3/4/10)
2010 Mar 2, In Nigeria planted
explosives in the Niger Delta damaged the Kokori oil flow station
operated by Royal Dutch Shell PLC, marking the latest attack in a
region supposedly brought under control by a government amnesty
program.
(AP, 3/3/10)
2010 Mar 7, In Nigeria some 500
people, mainly women and children, were allegedly killed in
overnight attacks in the three villages of Dogo Nahawa, Ratsat and
Zot near the city of Jos. Residents and local rights activists
blamed the overnight attack on ethnic Fulani pastoralists. A
military spokesman said security forces have arrested 24 people last
week accused of stealing crude oil and illegally refining it.
Security forces soon detained 95 suspects in the violence.
(AFP, 3/7/10)(AP, 3/8/10)(AFP, 3/9/10)
2010 Mar 10, In Nigeria some
5,000 activists staged a march in Abuja to demand the sacking of the
cabinet and a public appearance by ailing President Umaru Yar'Adua,
two weeks after he returned to the country. 2 people were killed
overnight by soldiers in Jos enforcing a curfew days after attacks
on three nearby Christian villages. Plateau state police
commissioner Ikechukwu Aduba gave a breakdown of the list of people
killed, saying the toll was 109. Aduba also revealed that 49 people
were to be charged over the killings, saying they had already
confessed to being on a revenge mission.
(AP, 3/10/10)(AFP, 3/10/10)
2010 Mar 15, Militants in
Nigeria's oil-producing region detonated two car bombs near a
government building in Warri where officials were discussing an
amnesty deal, showing their resolve to resume attacks after an
agreement to bring peace and economic benefits to the area
unraveled. Nigeria's intelligence agency later accused Henry Okah,
an alleged ex-leader of militant group MEND, of having wired the
bombs.
(AP, 3/15/10)(AFP, 11/11/10)
2010 Mar 17, Nigeria's Acting
President Goodluck Jonathan dissolved the Cabinet, purging top
officials loyal to the nation's ill president in his first major act
since taking over the young democracy's highest office more than a
month ago. Suspected Muslim Fulani herdsmen disguised as soldiers
butchered and then burned around a dozen Christians, mostly women
and children, in the Riyom region of Plateau state, close to the
site of a recent sectarian massacre.
(AFP, 3/18/10)(AFP, 3/17/10)
2010 Mar 19, A Nigerian armed
rebel group claimed to have blown up an oil facility in the restive
oil-producing Niger Delta region and threatened to step up attacks
in coming days.
(AFP, 3/19/10)
2010 Mar 21, Nigerian
authorities said police have arrested 164 people over a recent
massacre near the central city of Jos and plan to charge most with
offences ranging from terrorism to arson.
(AFP, 3/22/10)
2010 Mar 22, In Nigeria the
Magajin Gari Sharia court in the northern city of Kaduna ordered the
Civil Rights Congress (CRC), one of the country's leading rights
groups, to suspend its Twitter and Facebook online debates on Malam
Buba Bello Jangebe’s wrist amputation for theft, which was carried
out in 2000.
(AFP, 3/23/10)
2010 Mar 23, Two Nigerian oil
workers were found dead in the oil-rich Niger Delta region after
being kidnapped on March 13.
(AP, 3/23/10)
2010 Mar 24, Most of Nigeria
was shrouded in a thick dust storm, disrupting air travel and
threatening to trigger respiratory problems.
(AFP, 3/24/10)
2010 Mar 25, Pirates attacked a
Turkish cargo ship off the coast of Nigeria, injuring three crew
members. Eight to 10 pirates with automatic weapons boarded the Ozay
5. They robbed the crew of money and cellphones but fled after the
ship began making distress calls.
(Reuters, 3/26/10)
2010 Mar 31, Nigerian gunmen
kidnapped Chris Nnaji. a local employee of French oil group Total,
on his way to work in the country's oil hub of Port Harcourt.
(AFP, 4/1/10)
2010 Apr 1, Nigerian
authorities charged 20 people over their roles in sectarian clashes
that killed hundreds in central Plateau state last month, and some
could face the death penalty.
(Reuters, 4/1/10)
2010 Apr 3, In Nigeria at least
two people were killed when police fired live rounds to disperse a
group of protesting youths in a suburb of Lagos.
(AFP, 4/4/10)
2010 Apr 6, Nigeria's Acting
President Goodluck Jonathan installed his new cabinet, appointing
senior Goldman Sachs executive Olusegun Aganga as his new finance
minister. Jonathan also named former mines minister Deziani
Allison-Madueke and Godsday Orubebe as the new oil and Niger Delta
ministers. Police said that religious massacres have stopped, but
"secret" killings of Christians and Muslims continue on a smaller
scale across central Nigeria, claiming more than 30 lives this year.
(AP, 4/6/10)
2010 Apr 9, Nigerian gunmen
kidnapped three Syrian expatriates and one Lebanese worker near the
oil hub Port Harcourt. A police officer attached to the construction
firm was killed when gunmen launched the attack. The 4 kidnapped men
were released on April 12.
(AP, 4/9/10)(AFP, 4/14/10)
2010 Apr 11, In Nigeria
suspected Muslim ethnic Fulani attackers burned homes in a Christian
village near the city of Jos, which has been at the centre of
tit-for-tat attacks this year which have left hundreds dead.
(AFP, 4/12/10)
2010 Apr 13, Nigeria's
anti-corruption agency sought the arrest of Chief James Ibori, a
former governor of the oil-rich Delta State (1999-2007), suspected
of siphoning off millions of dollars of state assets. Hundreds of
Nigerian youths rallied in the commercial capital Lagos demanding
Acting President Goodluck Jonathan implement much needed electoral
reforms to ensure credible national polls next year.
(AFP, 4/13/10)(Reuters, 4/13/10)
2010 Apr 15, In Nigeria the
burnt bodies of a Pentecostal pastor, Ishaya Kadah, and his wife,
Selina, were discovered by the police in Boto village, two days
after they were kidnapped.
(AFP, 4/18/10)
2010 Apr 17, In Nigeria at
least five people were killed and several wounded when two oil
tankers collided and burst into flames in southwest Ogun state.
(AFP, 4/17/10)
2010 Apr 18, In Nigeria gunmen
abducted two Germans who sought respite along a beach in the
oil-rich and violent southern region.
(AP, 4/19/10)
2010 Apr 19, The Nigerian army
averted an attack by suspected Muslim extremists on a mainly
Christian village in the flashpoint central Plateau State, killing
two gunmen. 2 Christian farmers were killed and two others went
missing in fresh attacks by suspected Muslim-Fulani nomads in
central Plateau State.
(AFP, 4/19/10)
2010 Apr 22, Nigeria’s Acting
President Goodluck Jonathan approved a 4.6 trillion naira
(31-billion-dollar) budget that increased spending by about 50%. He
also signed a bill that gives preferential treatment to Nigerian
companies wanting to take part in the country's oil industry.
(AP, 4/23/10)
2010 Apr 24, Nigeria and the
United States agreed to work together to counter the spread of
nuclear weapons. The agreement was announced following a meeting
between US undersecretary of state for political affairs William
Burns with acting Pres. Goodluck Jonathan.
(AFP, 4/25/10)
2010 Apr 24, In Nigeria Edo
Ugbagwu (42), a justice reporter for the daily newspaper The Nation,
died in a shooting after some sort of confrontation at his home in
Lagos. Two journalists working for a Christian magazine were stabbed
to death by a mob in a predominantly Muslim suburb in the flashpoint
Nigerian city of Jos. Kidnappers seized the commissioner of the
environment in southern oil-rich Bayelsa State, along with her
mother-in-law, during a private visit to Abia state. Mrs. Victoria
Denenu and her mother-in-law were released on April 29.
(AP, 4/26/10)(AFP, 4/26/10)(AFP, 4/27/10)(AFP,
5/1/10)
2010 Apr 26, A Nigerian court
charged the country's ruling party chairman over a series of
corruption allegations, creating a criminal case against the most
powerful man blocking the acting president from running in next
year's election. Vincent Ogbulafor faced 16 counts accusing him of
funneling money toward fictitious projects during his service as
minister of special duties.
(AP, 4/26/10)
2010 Apr 28, Nigeria's senate
ordered a probe into Senator Ahmed Sani Yerima (49) for his alleged
marriage to a 13-year-old Egyptian girl, after the national rights
watchdog and other 10 groups accused him of shaming the country.
Gunmen seized four officers of an agency responsible for combating
counterfeit pharmaceuticals in the southern state of Abia.
(AFP, 4/28/10)(AFP, 4/30/10)
2010 Apr 30, A Nigerian court
sentenced six Ghanaians and a Nigerian to 8 years in prison each
after they were found guilty of stealing 4,000 tons of oil products.
Rebels in the restive Niger Delta claimed to have blown up a Shell
pipeline in the creeks of the southern oil producing region and
threatened further attacks.
(AFP, 4/30/10)
2010 May 1, Nigeria's navy
seized a Greek-flagged vessel carrying more than 80 tons of stolen
crude oil and arrested its crew in a crackdown on a multi-million
dollar smuggling racket.
(AFP, 5/5/10)
2010 May 3, Nigeria's private
pay TV station NN24 began a 24-hour news coverage service in a first
for the west African country. Nigerian police freed a Ghanaian woman
after a shootout with her kidnappers in the restive oil city of Port
Harcourt. The kidnappers seized another woman, Rita Oparaocha, an
employee of the state ministry of works and housing after snatching
her car.
(AFP, 5/3/10)(AFP, 5/4/10)
2010 May 4, Royal Dutch Shell
said it spilled nearly 14,000 tons of oil into the creeks of the
Niger Delta in 2009 and blamed thieves and militants for the
environmental damage.
(SFC, 5/5/10, p.A2)
2010 May 6, Nigeria's Goodluck
Jonathan (52) was sworn as president of the oil-rich African nation
riven by religious and political divisions, hours after the death of
the incumbent Umaru Yar'Adua (58). Jonathan vowed that electoral
reform and fighting graft would be top priorities.
(Reuters, 5/6/10)
2010 May 7, Anglo-Dutch oil
giant Shell said it had deferred crude shipments from its Bonny
Light terminal in the Niger Delta for two months due to a fire that
has hampered production.
(AFP, 5/7/10)
2010 May 11, Nigerian Senator
Ahmed Sani Yerima (49), under fire over marrying a 13-year-old
Egyptian girl, justified his actions by saying he was following in
the footsteps of Islam's Prophet Mohammed, who had married a
nine-year-old girl, Aishatu.
(AP, 5/11/10)
2010 May 12, Former Nigerian
minister Nasir el-Rufai appeared in court on charges of doling out
government lands to associates and family members during his four
years in office. The minister of the federal capital territory (FCT)
Abuja from 2003 to 2007 faced charges of criminal conspiracy and
abuse of office following an investigation by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
(AFP, 5/13/10)
2010 May 12, In Dubai James
Ibori, former governor of Nigeria's oil-rich Delta state
(1999-2007), was arrested on a UK warrant. Nigerian anti-graft
agency chief Farida Waziri said Ibori was wanted on charges of
stealing 44 billion naira ($292 million) in state funds while he was
in office. In July Ibori was scheduled for extradition to Britain.
(AP, 5/14/10)(AFP, 7/26/10)
2010 May 13, In Nigeria Vincent
Ogbulafor, chairman of the ruling People's Democratic Party, wrote
that he would be resigning his post following accusations of
embezzling government money. The move pushed aside the most powerful
man blocking the nation's new president from running in next year's
election.
(AP, 5/14/10)
2010 May 13, In Abuja, Nigeria,
the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and China State
Construction Engineering Corporation Limited (CSCEC) sealed a $23
billion deal to build three refineries and a petrochemical complex.
(AFP, 5/14/10)
2010 May 14, In southern
Nigeria gunmen sporting military uniforms kidnapped four Lebanese
road construction workers in an attack that left a soldier and a
gang member dead in Abia state. The 4 workers were freed on May 22.
(AP, 5/15/10)(AFP, 5/22/10)
2010 May 17, A report by civil
liberties group Open Society Justice Initiative alleged that
Nigeria's federal police force kills with impunity, extorts those
it's charged to protect and rapes arrested prostitutes as a "fringe
benefit" of the job.
(AP, 5/17/10)
2010 May 18, In Nigeria both
houses of parliament voted to approve Namadi Sambo, a northern
Muslim, as new vice president of the country, maintaining a delicate
religious and geographical balance in power.
(AFP, 5/18/10)
2010 May 19, Royal Dutch Shell
PLC announced it will spend more than $2 billion to sharply reduce
the burning off of natural gas at its oil wells in Nigeria, gases
that when burned contribute to global warming and sicken people
living nearby.
(AP, 5/19/10)
2010 May 21, Nigerian officials
and residents said hundreds of Niger nationals, mostly women and
children, have flooded into the country in search of food.
(AFP, 5/22/10)
2010 May 22, Nigerian youths in
Jos hacked to death 3 Muslim herders and burned their bodies.
(AP, 5/22/10)
2010 May 23, In Nigeria fresh
violence between Muslims and Christians in Jos left one person dead
and another seriously wounded, a day after three others were killed.
15 suspects were arrested for the previous day’s killings. Gunmen in
the delta seized 3 Chinese technicians. The men were freed on May
29.
(AP, 5/23/10)(AFP, 5/23/10)(AP, 5/29/10)
2010 May 30, In northern
Nigeria a chlorine gas leak led 300 people to fall ill after a
welder cut into a tank of the noxious gas in Kaduna.
(AP, 5/30/10)
2010 Jun 1, Christie Ibori-Ibie
was found guilty by London's Southwark Crown Court on charges of
aiding her brother James Ibori, the former governor of Delta state,
who himself stands accused of siphoning nearly 300 million dollars
of public funds in Nigeria.
(AFP, 6/2/10)
2010 Jun 3, Nigeria's
parliament approved a constitutional amendment on transferring
presidential powers, aimed at avoiding a repeat of a crisis when the
late President Umaru Yar'Adua fell seriously ill last year.
(Reuters, 6/3/10)
2010 Jun 4, A senior Nigerian
official said lead poisoning caused by illegal gold mining has
killed 163 Nigerians, including 111 children, since March in several
northern remote villages.
(Reuters, 6/4/10)
2010 Jun 17, Royal Dutch Shell
PLC warned Nigeria that $40 billion of planned investments in the
oil-rich nation could be in jeopardy if lawmakers pass a proposed
bill to overhaul the petroleum industry. Government officials say
the bill would allow more oil money to return to Nigeria's
people. The bill also would require the government-run Nigerian
National Petroleum Corp., which partners with all foreign oil firms,
to seek profits like a private business and not rely on government
subsidies.
(AP, 6/17/10)
2010 Jul 2, In Nigeria a
gasoline tanker flipped and exploded in Gombe killing 14 people.
(SSFC, 7/4/10, p.A3)
2010 Jul 3, In Nigeria gunmen
attacked two cargo vessels off the coast of the oil-producing Niger
Delta, killing one crew member and kidnapping 12 foreign workers.
The crew members were seized near Bonny in southern Rivers state.
The military believe they were from eastern Europe. The workers were
freed 2 days later along with three sailors taken hostage in May.
(Reuters, 7/3/10)(AFP, 7/5/10)
2010 Jul 5, Nigeria’s
anti-human trafficking agency ruled that it lacks sufficient
evidence to criminally charge Senator Ahmed Sani Yerima (49) for
marrying a 13-year-old Egyptian girl, the daughter of his driver, to
whom Yerima allegedly paid a $100,000 dowry.
(AP, 5/11/10)(SFC, 7/6/10, p.A2)
2010 Jul 7, Royal Dutch Shell
said it has begun production at a major project in Nigeria that
should eventually provide up to 70,000 barrels of oil per day and
help boost electricity for the power-starved nation.
(AFP, 7/8/10)
2010 Jul 7, The UN WHO said at
least 2,000 lead-poisoning victims in northern Nigeria may require
treatment to remove brain-damaging lead. The poisoning was believed
to be related to the processing of lead-rich ore for the extraction
of gold.
(SFC, 7/8/10, p.A4)
2010 Jul 9, Aid agency Oxfam
warned that the food crisis gripping the Sahel region of Africa was
reaching disastrous levels and called on governments and the
international community to act now. The crisis stretched across the
region taking in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Niger and northern
Nigeria.
(AFP, 7/9/10)
2010 Jul 11, In Nigeria gunmen
kidnapped 4 journalists traveling through the country's oil-rich
southern delta. The kidnappers made a ransom demand of $1.67
million. The journalists were freed on July 18 with no ransom paid.
(AP, 7/12/10)(AFP, 7/18/10)
2010 Jul 13, In Nigeria the
junior finance minister said the country’s corruption-ridden giant
state oil firm NNPC is insolvent with debts of five billion dollars.
(AFP, 7/13/10)
2010 Jul 13, In eastern Nigeria
Christians and Muslims clashes, left eight people dead and 40
seriously wounded, with six mosques and one church also torched.
(AFP, 7/14/10)
2010 Jul 15, French oil firm
Total SA said it has signed a deal to acquire Chevron Corp.'s stake
in an offshore oil block near Nigeria's coastline.
(AP, 7/15/10)
2010 Jul 17, In central Nigeria
Muslims attacked a Christian village, killing eight people with
machetes and burning seven houses and a church in fresh religious
violence.
(AFP, 7/18/10)
2010 Jul 21, Nigeria laid out
plans to bail out its badly struggling banks by removing up to 21
billion dollars in deadbeat loans from their balance sheets.
(AFP, 7/21/10)
2010 Jul 26, Nigeria's drug
enforcement agency seized nearly half a ton of cocaine and arrested
two Chinese nationals and a Nigerian in connection with the seizure.
The shipment originated from Chile and passed through Peru, Bolivia
and Antwerp in Belgium before being shipped to Nigeria.
(AP, 7/27/10)
2010 Aug 3, In Nigeria Islamic
police smashed 80,000 bottles of beer in the city of Kano to enforce
a sharia law ban on consumption of alcohol that exists in much of
the country's north.
(AFP, 8/4/10)
2010 Aug 4, In Nigeria Erastus
Akingbola, ex-chief executive of Intercontinental Bank, turned
himself in after returning from Britain. He was accused of taking
part in corruption blamed for helping cause a financial crisis. The
central bank removed a list of executives from their jobs at
financial institutions, including Akingbola, in 2009 in a bid to
clean up the banking sector.
(AP, 8/4/10)
2010 Aug 6, In northern Nigeria
authorities shot three people dead as a mob threatened to burn down
a police station in an area that has been a hotbed of political and
religious violence.
(AP, 8/7/10)
2010 Aug 11, In Nigeria a
condemned building collapsed in Abuja and killed 23 people.
Squatters who lived there described jumping from two storeys up to
escape. Russian sailors Igor Ivanov and Andrei Pukke were kidnapped
in the southern delta. On Sep 9 they were reported to have been
released by their captors following a $60,000 ransom.
(AFP, 8/12/10)(AFP, 8/14/10)(AP, 9/9/10)
2010 Aug 12, In Nigeria a
senior official said a cholera outbreak has killed 40 people while
115 others have been infected in northern Nigeria's Borno State in
the past week.
(AFP, 8/13/10)
2010 Aug 15, In Nigeria Royal
Dutch Shell PLC warned that thieves in the oil-rich and restive
southern delta are increasingly targeting the company's crude
pipelines, including at least three incidents of sabotage this month
alone.
(AP, 8/15/10)
2010 Aug 15, In Nigeria a fiery
road crash outside the commercial capital of Lagos burned at least
15 people to death and injured 18 others.
(AFP, 8/16/10)
2010 Aug 16, Nigerian officials
said a cholera outbreak has killed 87 people during the past month
while 1,315 others have been infected.
(AP, 8/16/10)
2010 Aug 17, A Human Rights
Watch report said Nigerian police corruption has led officers to
regularly detain innocent people to extort cash, with some tortured
or allegedly killed in the process. The report was based on
interviews with more than 145 victims of or witnesses to police
corruption.
(AFP, 8/17/10)
2010 Aug 18, Officials with
Nigeria's security services say they've intercepted 52 Kalashnikov
rifles and tens of thousands of ammunition rounds heading for Kos,
an area that has been the scene of religious violence. They said
five men were arrested for trying to bring the weapons from
neighboring Chad.
(AP, 8/18/10)
2010 Aug 18, Shell in Nigeria
said it has warned it may not meet contractual obligations on Bonny
Light crude, after oil thieves sabotaged two pipelines in the
country's south.
(AFP, 8/18/10)
2010 Aug 19, Nigeria’s Health
Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu said the death toll from a cholera
outbreak in northern Nigerian has risen to 231 while 4,600 others
have been infected.
(AFP, 8/19/10)
2010 Aug 23, Officials said the
United States has granted Nigerian airlines permission for direct US
flights.
(AFP, 8/24/10)
2010 Aug 24, In Nigeria gunmen
ambushed Soboma George, leader of the feared Outlaws Gang, in the
oil town of Port Harcourt. The gunmen fired at George, and killed
one woman and wounded another during a running shootout. George’s
body was recovered Aug 27.
(AP, 8/25/10)(AFP, 8/28/10)
2010 Aug 25, In Nigeria 2
motorcycle-riding gunmen shot and killed a police constable in Yobe
state. Separately 2 policemen were shot and killed by 4 gunmen
dressed in black and riding motorcycles in Maiduguri. The gunmen
were suspected to be members of the Boko Haram Islamic sect.
(AFP, 8/27/10)
2010 Aug 25, Nigeria's worker
union for the state-run power company called a general strike, a day
before the nation's president is to announce his plans to privatize
the industry.
(AP, 8/25/10)
2010 Aug 25, Shell said it has
shut down an oil facility in southern Nigeria due to protests by a
group of local women, after a similar demonstration targeted a
Chevron pipeline.
(AFP, 8/25/10)
2010 Aug 25, Nigerian health
officials warned that the whole country is at risk in a cholera
epidemic that has killed 352 people in only three-months time.
(AP, 8/25/10)
2010 Aug 26, Nigerian President
Goodluck Jonathan laid out plans to privatize most of the country's
power sector, as corruption and mismanagement continued to cause
daily outages in the oil-rich nation.
(AFP, 8/26/10)
2010 Aug 27, In Nigeria Jhalil
Tafawa Balewa, a physician, businessman and son of the country's
first prime minister, was abducted by gunmen and taken to a forest
in Katampe area on the outskirts of Abuja. The next day police
engaged the suspects and rescued the abductee.
(AFP, 8/29/10)
2010 Aug 27, Some Nigerian
women and girls are being forced into prostitution in neighboring
Ivory Coast after being deceived with promises of a better life
outside of their country, according to a new report by Human Rights
Watch.
(AP, 8/27/10)
2010 Aug 30, In Nigeria unknown
gunmen shot and killed a personal assistant to Bauchi state
Gov. Malam Isa Yuguda, the son-in-law to the late Nigerian President
Umaru Yar'Adua. A police guard for Yuguda was shot and seriously
injured.
(AP, 8/30/10)
2010 Sep 5, In Nigeria more
than a dozen vehicles including three fuel tankers and two
mini-buses caught fire in a pile-up on a highway, site of a deadly
multi-car crash three weeks ago. No death toll was immediately
available. Three separate shootings occurred by motorcycle-riding
gunmen, leaving a retired police officer dead. Another person
reported wounded later died, and four others were injured.
(AFP, 9/5/10)(AFP, 9/7/10)
2010 Sep 7, In northern Nigeria
the radical Boko Haram Muslim sect used assault rifles to launch a
coordinated sunset raid on a prison in Bauchi, freeing over 700
prisoners including more than 100 followers and raising new fears
about violence just months before elections. Five people, a soldier,
a police officer, two prison guards and a civilian, died in the
attack and six others were in critical condition.
(AP, 9/8/10)
2010 Sep 10, A US federal
appeals court in San Francisco upheld a jury verdict clearing the
Chevron Corp. of alleged human rights abuses during a violent 1998
protest on a company oil platform in Nigeria.
(AP, 9/11/10)
2010 Sep 13, In Nigeria unknown
attackers brandishing machetes stormed the home of Garba Bello, a
senior intelligence official, and hacked him and four members of his
family to death in an apparent targeted killing.
(AFP, 9/14/10)
2010 Sep 14, A Nigerian
official said police over the weekend arrested 10 members of Boko
Haram, a radical Muslim sect accused of a recent spate of targeted
killings of police officers and local officials. Police also
arrested two more sect followers freed in a recent prison break.
Pere Fiofori, Emmanuel Gladstone and Dobra Ogbe, aged between 30 and
35, were arrested in an hotel in Ondo town and handed over to the
Rivers State police in connection with last month's murder of Soboma
George, in Port Harcourt.
(AP, 9/14/10)(AFP, 9/18/10)
2010 Sep 17, Nigeria’s Pres.
Goodluck Jonathan, current chair of the Economic Community of West
African States (ECOWAS), said Guinea-Bissau risks sliding into
anarchy unless a security solution, including taming the military,
is found in the coup-prone west African nation.
(AFP, 9/17/10)
2010 Sep 17, Nigeria’s national
security adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan resigned to compete
against his boss to become the ruling party's candidate in next
year's presidential election.
(AFP, 9/19/10)
2010 Sep 18, Nigeria’s
President Goodluck Jonathan formally declared his bid for the 2011
presidential poll, three days after launching it on his Facebook
page, ending months of doubts over his ambition.
(AFP, 9/18/10)
2010 Sep 19, Nigeria’s
anti-narcotics agency said the United States has removed Nigeria
from the list of major drug trafficking countries, describing the
move as recognition of its fight against trafficking.
(AFP, 9/19/10)
2010 Sep 22, A Thai national
and 3 French employees of marine services company Bourbon were
kidnapped overnight in an attack on one of its ships, the Bourbon
Alexandre, in an oil field off Nigeria. The hostages “in poor
health” were released on Nov 10.
(AP, 9/22/10)(AP, 11/10/10)(AFP, 11/12/10)
2010 Sep 25, Nigeria’s Nobel
laureate Wole Soyinka attended an event in Lagos announcing the
platform of the Democratic Front for a People's Federation. The
party claims to be a "zero resource" party, a jab at oil-rich
Nigeria's culture of government graft and corruption.
(AP, 9/25/10)
2010 Sep 25, Nigerian officials
said opened dams in Jigawa state have displaced some two million
people in the north, adding to flood misery that has already washed
away entire villages across a wide swathe of the region. The next
day spokesman for the Hadejia-Jama'are River Basin Development
Authority, said the dams, located in Kano state, which borders
Jigawa, are never manually opened and simply empty automatically
into a spillway once the reservoir fills. He said heavy rainfall
almost everywhere in the country caused the flooding.
(AFP, 9/25/10)(AFP, 9/26/10)
2010 Sep 27, In Nigeria gunmen
hijacked a school bus in Abia state and kidnapped 15 children on
board in the oil-rich south. The next day they demanded a $130,000
ransom for their release. On Oct 1 a joint military and police
taskforce "rescued" the children and no ransom was paid.
(AFP, 9/28/10)(AP, 10/1/10)
2010 Sep 29, Nigerian
authorities said as many as 40,000 girls and women have been
trafficked to nearby West African countries to serve as sex workers.
(AP, 9/29/10)
2010 Sep 30, In Sweden
activists from Nepal, Nigeria, Brazil and Israel were named the
winners of this year's Right Livelihood Award, also known as the
"alternative Nobel," for work that included fighting to save the
Amazon rain forest and bringing health care to Palestinians cut off
from services. The recipients included Nigeria's Nnimmo Bassey (42),
Catholic Bishop Erwin Kraeutler (71) of Brazil, Shrikrishna Upadhyay
(65) of Nepal, and the organization Physicians for Human Rights
Israel.
(AP, 9/30/10)
2010 Oct 1, In Nigeria car bomb
explosions killed 12 people and injured 17 near a parade Abuja
marking the 50th anniversary of independence. Two blasts, which also
destroyed three cars, came an hour after the Movement for the
Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), warned it had planted
several bombs and told people to evacuate the area.
(Reuters, 10/1/10)(Reuters, 10/2/10)
2010 Oct 1, Pirates off the
coast of Nigeria's southern delta kidnapped two foreign sailors from
the MV Eckhardt tanker. A naval spokesman later suggested the crew
worked in the black market trade of stolen crude from the region.
(AP, 10/3/10)
2010 Oct 2, South African
authorities arrested Henry Okah, an ex-leader of a militant group
that claimed responsibility for the Oct 1 dual car bombing that
killed 12 people in Nigeria. A day before the bombings, security
agencies in South Africa had raided Okah's home and seized a laptop,
though they did not arrest him.
(AP, 10/3/10)
2010 Oct 3, Nigeria's federal
police force named two men, Ben Jessy and Chima Orlu, as the
"masterminds" behind the Oct 1 bombings in Abuja.
(AP, 10/3/10)
2010 Oct 5, Medecines Sans
Frontieres (MSF) said lead poisoning has killed more than 400
children under five in the past six months in the northern Nigerian
state of Zamfara.
(AFP, 10/5/10)
2010 Oct 6, In Nigeria
suspected members of Boko Haram, a northern radical Muslim sect,
shot and killed Awana Ngala, the leader of the ruling All Nigeria
People's Party, the latest attack by a group that engineered a
massive prison break last month.
(AFP, 10/7/10)
2010 Oct 8, A Nigerian court
handed a 6-month jail sentence to Cecilia Ibru, one of the country's
most prominent women, over millions of dollars loaned by her bank in
a case linked to a financial crisis in the oil-rich nation.
(AFP, 10/9/10)
2010 Oct 9, In northern Nigeria
gunmen on motorcycle taxis killed Islamic cleric Sheikh Bashir
Mustapha. He had been an outspoken critic of Boko Haram, a radical
Muslim sect blamed for a rash of recent shootings. Authorities
believed Sheikh Bashir Mustapha was slain by members of Boko Haram,
which means "Western education is sacrilege" in the local Hausa
language.
(AP, 10/9/10)
2010 Oct 11, A Nigerian
official said scores of slum residents in Lagos have been left
homeless by flooding from the Ogun River following last month's
opening of a dam.
(AFP, 10/11/10)
2010 Oct 11, In northern
Nigeria suspected members of a radical Islamic sect set a police
station ablaze, wounding three officers in an attack similar to one
that sparked rioting and a government crackdown that left 700 dead
last year.
(AP, 10/12/10)
2010 Oct 12, In India a second
doping case in two days, and again involving a Nigerian runner, was
reported. Both cases involved Methylhexaneamine. It was also found
in about a dozen Indian athletes in recent months.
(AP, 10/12/10)
2010 Oct 14, In Nigeria gunmen
in the southern delta kidnapped, Lakshmi Tombush, the principal of a
school sponsored by Exxon, and killed 2 police officers in a
firefight. Gunmen attacked a police roadblock northern Bauchi state
and two policemen were killed. Police officers recovered Tombush on
Oct 28.
(SFC, 10/15/10, p.A2)(AFP, 10/15/10)(AP,
10/29/10)
2010 Oct 16, A Nigerian army
spokesman said soldiers have arrested this month about 100 suspected
kidnappers and armed robbers in the southeastern state of Abia,
including a Roman Catholic priest. Nigerian investigators raided a
Lagos home of Charles Okah, the brother of former militant group
leader Henry Okah, taking him into custody over his alleged role in
funding the Oct 1 bombings that struck independence anniversary
celebrations in Abuja.
(AFP, 10/16/10)(AP, 10/17/10)
2010 Oct 17, A Nigerian
government spokesman said a Dubai court found cause to honor an
extradition request for former Delta state Gov. James Ibori, a
prominent politician in the ruling People's Democratic Party.
Authorities have said Ibori faces charges over stealing $292 million
in state funds while in office.
(AP, 10/17/10)
2010 Oct 19, The UN said that
377 people had died in flooding in central and west Africa, with
nearly 1.5 million people affected since the start of the rainy
season in June. The highest toll was in Nigeria with 118, followed
by Ghana (52), Sudan (50), Benin (43), Chad (24), Mauritania (21),
Burkina Faso (16), Cameroon (13), Gambia (12), with other countries
reporting less than 10 dead.
(AFP, 10/19/10)
2010 Oct 22, In Nigeria Mallam
Tukur, a local government official, died after being shot in the
body and head at his home in Bauchi state.
(AP, 10/23/10)
2010 Oct 22, The UN Children's
Fund said about 1,555 people have died of cholera in Nigeria this
year, marking a likely peak in a three-year-old surge in the disease
in the country.
(AFP, 10/22/10)
2010 Oct 24, In southeastern
Nigeria fighting erupted linked to a land dispute between the
feuding Nsadop and Boje communities in Cross River state. Fighting
led to the burning of dozens of houses and churches. After 2 days of
unrest police recovered 13 burnt corpses.
(AFP, 10/26/10)
2010 Oct 26, Nigerian police
arrested 10 local chiefs from Boje community accused of murder in a
land dispute with neighbors after which 13 burnt corpses were
recovered.
(AFP, 10/27/10)
2010 Oct 27, Nigerian officials
allowed journalists to see the 107 mm rockets, rifle rounds and
other weapons seized at Apapa Port. Authorities said the shipment
also contained grenades, explosives, mortars and possibly rocket
launchers. However, journalists visiting the holding yard just
inside of the port's main gate did not see those weapons. the
manifest for the weapons described the shipment as "packages of
glasswool and pallets of stone." The next day customs officials said
the shipment of 13 containers came from a ship that had just left
India and investigators continued to trace the weapons' origins.
(AP, 10/27/10)(AP, 10/28/10)
2010 Oct 28, Israeli officials
said that the military-grade armaments seized at a shipping terminal
in Nigeria came from Iran and were bound for the Hamas-controlled
Gaza Strip. On Oct 30 an international shipping company said the
weapons cache originally came from Iran. Last week, the Iranian
shipper filed a request for the containers to be picked up again and
this time shipped to the West African nation of Gambia. On Feb 1,
2011, Azim Aghajani of Iran and his alleged accomplice, Nigerian
national Usman Abbas Jega, both maintained their innocence against
three charges over the shipment.
(AP, 10/28/10)(AP, 10/30/10)(AP, 2/1/11)
2010 Oct 29, In Nigeria Italian
oil firm Eni SpA said a pipeline carrying some of its crude out of
Nigeria's oil-rich southern delta has erupted after an "act of
sabotage."
(AP, 10/29/10)
2010 Nov 1, ExxonMobil in
Nigeria announced the discovery of rich gas condensate off the West
African country's coast as the government seeks to boost gas supply
to help solve electricity shortages.
(AFP, 11/1/10)
2010 Nov 3, Northern Nigeria
began deporting hundreds of illegal immigrants from neighboring
Niger, Chad and Cameroon amid tight security and military patrols
over a series of attacks blamed on an Islamist sect. Immigration
officials said they were deported some 700 illegal immigrants to
prevent them from casting votes in next year's presidential
election.
(AFP, 11/4/10)(AP, 11/4/10)
2010 Nov 4, Nigerian lawmakers
approved constitutional changes allowing the postponement of
presidential elections set for early next year after warnings there
would not be enough time to prepare.
(AFP, 11/4/10)
2010 Nov 8, In Nigeria an oil
rig in the volatile Delta region was attacked and 7 crew members
were taken hostage. A security source said the crew included 2
Americans, 2 French, 2 Indonesians and a Canadian.
(AFP, 11/8/10)(AFP, 11/9/10)
2010 Nov 9, Nigerian
authorities announced 23 new arrests announced, bringing the number
of suspected Boko Haram sect members in police custody to 128.
(AP, 11/10/10)
2010 Nov 10, Nigerian trade
unions called off a strike protesting the minimum wage across the
oil-rich nation, one day into the planned 3-day action. They said
Pres. Goodluck Jonathan made promises to raise the wage. The current
minimum monthly wage was 7,500 naira, or $50.
(AP, 11/10/10)
2010 Nov 11, A Nigerian
government report identified Iranians Azimi Agajany and Sayed Akbar
Tahmaesebi as the men who organized a shipment of arms through a
Tehran-based company called International Trading and General
Construction. The arms containers sat at Lagos' busy Apapa port from
July until Oct. 26, when Nigerian security agents carried out a raid
and discovered the weapons inside.
(AP, 11/11/10)
2010 Nov 13, A Nigerian soldier
was killed and another wounded in a suspected attack by a radical
Muslim sect in northeastern Borno state. The assailants fired a
Kalashnikov rifle at the soldiers from a motorbike. Gunmen burst
into a burial vigil outside the oil city of Port Harcourt, firing
shots and kidnapping 4 people.
(AP, 11/14/10)(AFP, 11/14/10)
2010 Nov 14, A Nigerian army
spokesman said its special joint military force has arrested 449
suspected kidnappers in four oil-producing states in the Niger Delta
in under 7 weeks. Gunmen attacked an offshore facility operated by
Exxon Mobil off the southern coast. 8 people were missing following
the raid that knocked out 45,000 barrels per day of condensate
production.
(AFP, 11/14/10)(AFP, 11/15/10)(Reuters, 11/16/10)
2010 Nov 15, Iran's foreign
minister Manouchehr Mottaki said that the issue of an alleged
Iranian arms shipment intercepted in Nigeria was a
"misunderstanding" that has been settled.
(AP, 11/15/10)
2010 Nov 17, Nigeria's security
forces rescued 19 foreign and local hostages from militant camps in
the creeks of the Niger Delta oil region.
(Reuters, 11/18/10)
2010 Nov 18, Nigeria's drug
enforcement found and seized 286 pounds (130 kg) of high-quality
heroin, destined for Europe, hidden inside a shipment of auto parts
sent from Iran.
(AP, 11/19/10)(AFP, 11/20/10)
2010 Nov 19, The Nigerian army
arrested a militant leader and 62 of his followers suspected of
involvement in a string of recent kidnappings of oil workers,
including foreigners. Gunmen suspected of being members of Boko
Haram, an Islamist sect behind a deadly uprising last year, shot
dead three worshippers at a mosque in the northern city of
Maiduguri.
(AFP, 11/20/10)
2010 Nov 23, Nigeria's most
prominent armed group MEND said that on Nov 21 it had attacked and
destroyed the Obidi refinery trunk line feeding a refinery in the
Niger Delta region.
(AFP, 11/23/10)
2010 Nov 24, Nigeria said it
has seized another illegal arms shipment at its main port, including
pistols and military vehicles, weeks after the discovery of a
weapons cache sent from Iran. The military items which were packed
inside a vehicle painted in army green. The illegal arms shipment
came from Belgium through Germany,
(AFP, 11/24/10)(AFP, 11/25/10)
2010 Nov 25, A court in Nigeria
charged an alleged member of Iran's Revolutionary Guards and three
Nigerians over a shipment of mortars and rockets seized in the main
port of Lagos last month.
(Reuters, 11/25/10)
2010 Nov 26, A Nigerian court
annulled the election of the governor of the southwestern state of
Osun and installed his opposition rival, in the latest blow to the
ruling party ahead of national elections next April. The court ruled
that Osun state governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola of the ruling People's
Democratic Party (PDP) had been wrongly elected in the 2007 polls
and installed his rival Rauf Aregbesola of the opposition Action
Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
(Reuters, 11/26/10)
2010 Nov 29, Nigerian union
leaders ordered their tanker drivers to halt the supply of petrol
nationwide for 7 days in protest at alleged maltreatment and killing
of their members by the military. The strike was suspended the next
day after a group of soldiers behind the killing of one of their
colleagues were handed over to police.
(AFP, 11/30/10)(AFP, 11/30/10)
2010 Dec 1, In southern Nigeria
a gun battle between police and armed robbers left seven people
dead, including a policeman and three passersby.
(AFP, 12/3/10)
2010 Dec 2, Nigeria's
anti-corruption police said they planned to file charges against
former Vice President Dick Cheney in a $180 million bribery case
involving a former unit of oil services firm Halliburton.
(Reuters, 12/2/10)
2010 Dec 2, ExxonMobil said
management staff in Nigeria have begun an indefinite strike after
dozens of local employees were sacked, but that oil production has
not been affected. A military taskforce (JTF) comprising the
army, navy and air force began raiding three camps which are
believed to belong to a notorious gang leader in Delta state. The
next day local residents said several civilians were killed and
scores displaced during the raids against armed gangs in the Niger
Delta. At least 9 people were reported killed and houses were found
burned after the military raids. Activists and witnesses said as
many as 150 people were killed around the village of Ayakoromo.
(AFP, 12/2/10)(Reuters, 12/3/10)(AFP,
12/4/10)(SFC, 12/4/10, p.A3)
2010 Dec 4, In northeastern
Nigeria a shootout between suspected members of a radical Muslim
sect and security forces killed three people, including an
8-year-old boy.
(AP, 12/5/10)
2010 Dec 5, Nigeria's military
acknowledged that raids in pursuit of an alleged gang leader in the
main oil-producing region may have killed civilians, but insisted
only militants were targeted. On Dec 15 the military said 14
people, including 8 soldiers and 6 civilians, were killed during the
operation targeting a notorious gang leader.
(AFP, 12/5/10)(AFP, 12/15/10)
2010 Dec 6, In Nigeria's Niger
Delta a militant faction said it had ruptured an oil pipeline in
response to what it said was the killing of innocent civilians
during a military offensive last week.
(Reuters, 12/6/10)
2010 Dec 7, Nigeria's
anti-corruption agency charged former US Vice President Dick Cheney
over a bribery scheme involving oil services firm Halliburton Co.
during the time he served as its top executive. A Nigerian court
charged Charles Okah, the brother of an alleged militant, and three
other suspects with treason and terrorism over the October 1
Independence Day twin car bombings that killed 12 people.
(AP, 12/7/10)(AFP, 12/8/10)
2010 Dec 8, In Nigeria police
arrested four men while four others had fled, after a 30-minute
shootout with members of Boko Haram, a radical Muslim sect, who
ambushed security officers at a checkpoint in Maiduguri.
(AP, 12/9/10)
2010 Dec 9, In Nigeria an
election officials said thieves had infiltrated Murtala Muhammed
International Airport and stole just-arrived equipment needed to
register voters ahead of next year's hotly contested presidential
election. Police arrested four men while four others had fled, after
a 30-minute shootout with members of Boko Haram, a radical Muslim
sect, who ambushed security officers at a checkpoint in Maiduguri.
(AP, 12/9/10)
2010 Dec 12, Nigeria's military
said it had taken control of eight camps belonging to Ateke Tom, a
militant leader in southern Rivers State. In the southeast Obioma
Nwankwo, a gang leader accused of kidnapping children from a school
bus, was killed. An unknown number of alleged gang members also
died. 6 others were arrested. The operation freed a family of five.
(AFP, 12/13/10)
2010 Dec 14, A Nigerian
official said Nigeria has negotiated a 250 million dollar settlement
deal that would see it drop charges against US ex-vice president
Dick Cheney and others over a bribery scandal.
(AFP, 12/14/10)
2010 Dec 16, In Nigeria
Pentecostal pastor John Nadrew (46) was given three years and eight
months after security agents found an AK-47 rifle and five pistols
in his house in Dot village during a raid last month.
(AFP, 12/16/10)
2010 Dec 17, A Nigerian court
sentenced 15 Muslim herdsmen to 10 years each over sectarian
violence in the country's central region that left hundreds dead
this year. Nigerian tanker drivers suspended petrol deliveries to
Lagos and other areas to protest the firing of 2,500 members,
sparking long queues at filling stations.
(AFP, 12/17/10)
2010 Dec 17, Nigerian NDLF
militants attacked three pipelines operated by the US oil giant
Chevron and Italian firm Agip in the key oil producing state of
Delta.
(AFP, 12/18/10)
2010 Dec 17, Nigeria dropped
charges against US ex-vice president Dick Cheney and others over a
bribery scandal allegedly involving Halliburton after a reported
settlement of 250 million dollars. On Dec 21 Halliburton said it had
agreed to pay 32.5 million dollars to the Nigerian government, plus
2.5 million dollars in costs.
(AFP, 12/17/10)(AFP, 12/21/10)
2010 Dec 22, Nigeria’s state
oil firm said it has shut down three of its four refineries because
of sabotage of pipelines leading to them. It called on the military
to increase security.
(AFP, 12/22/10)
2010 Dec 23, Nigeria said it
has signed loan deals with China worth 900 million dollars that will
be used to finance rail and communication projects in Africa's most
populous nation.
(AFP, 12/23/10)
2010 Dec 24, In central and
northern Nigeria a series of unprecedented Christmas Eve bomb blasts
and attacks on churches left 32 people dead in Jos. 6 people were
killed when petrol bombs were thrown at churches in the northeastern
city of Maiduguri, in Borno state.
(AFP, 12/25/10)(Reuters, 12/28/10)
2010 Dec 25, Nigeria’s
President Goodluck Jonathan handed out $1 billion from the nation’s
“excess crude account” to government officials for Christmas
presents.
(Econ, 1/22/11, p.58)
2010 Dec 26, In Nigeria clashes
left at least one person dead and a number of houses burned in the
city of Jos amid tensions following a series of Christmas Eve bomb
attacks.
(AFP, 12/26/10)
2010 Dec 28, In Nigeria members
of the radical Muslim sect Boko Haram shot and wounded a retired
senior police officer and two civilians in the city of Maiduguri.
Boko Haram also claimed responsibility for the Christmas Eve bomb
blasts in Jos that left at least 32 dead.
(AP, 12/29/10)
2010 Dec 29, In southern
Nigeria 2 bombs exploded during a political rally in Yenegoa,
Bayelsa state. No one was killed but a number of people were taken
to hospital with injuries. Suspected Islamists killed 8 people,
including 3 policemen, in five separate attacks in the northern city
of Maiduguri.
(Reuters, 12/29/10)(AFP, 12/30/10)
2010 Dec 31, Nigerian police
said they have arrested Bunu Wasili (55), a man suspected to be a
leader and financier of Boko Haram, along with 91 others. The
radical Muslim sect was responsible for dozens of recent killings in
northern Nigeria. A New Year's Eve bombing in Abuja killed 4 people.
(AP, 12/31/10)(Reuters, 1/1/10)
2010 In Nigeria theft, sabotage
and operational reasons caused 27,580 barrels of oil to spill from
the Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell facilities this year.
(AP, 5/27/11)
2011 Jan 3, In Nigeria a
policeman was shot dead in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, where
an Islamist sect last week killed at least 16 people in a series of
religiously motivated attacks. Security officers killed 3 bystanders
and arrested 7 suspected Boko Haram sect members, including a man
they were chasing in Maiduguri movie theater.
(Reuters, 1/3/11)(AFP, 1/4/11)
2011 Jan 6, Nigerians voted in
a key state governor's ballot seen as a test ahead of April's
nationwide elections, with massive security deployed amid fears of
further violence.
(AFP, 1/6/11)
2011 Jan 7, In Nigeria's
southern delta gunmen opened fire on a ceremony welcoming Timi
Alaibe, a former presidential adviser on the region, back home in
Bayelsa state. 2 people were killed and 6 others wounded, but Alaibe
was not hurt. In central Nigeria Christian youths attacked a car
full of Muslims returning from a wedding, killing seven people
inside the vehicle and sparking retaliatory violence in Jos that
left one other person dead. Gunmen opened fire at an open-air tavern
in northeastern Nigeria, killing six people in Gombe.
(AP, 1/8/11)(AFP, 1/9/11)
2011 Jan 7, A UN report said
over 400 children have died in northern Nigeria’s Zamfara state due
to lead poisoning related to mining a processing gold ore.
(SFC, 1/8/11, p.A2)
2011 Jan 8, In Nigeria at least
11 people died around Jos from religious violence and a political
rally gone awry.
(AP, 1/9/11)
2011 Jan 9, In Nigeria
witnesses heard gunshots and saw smoke rising from neighborhoods in
the city of Jos. Gunmen attacked a church near the Maiduguri
International Airport in a drive-by shooting. A police officer was
killed and the church watchman wounded.
(AP, 1/9/11)(AP, 1/10/11)
2011 Jan 10, Former Nigerian
leader and mediator Olusegun Obasanjo left Ivory Coast as incumbent
Pres. Gbagbo continued to defy the world and insist he had won the
recent election. Men armed with rifles and machetes killed 19 people
in attacks on three villages in volatile central Nigeria. Three
homes were attacked in the Christian village of Kuru Station. Those
that escaped said they saw military men shooting and other people
burning the houses and macheteing the villagers.
(AP, 1/10/11)(AP, 1/11/11)
2011 Jan 12, Nigerian
authorities presented Keiti Sese, aka Commander Noumekeme, to
journalists. He said he surrendered because he wanted to become part
of the amnesty program, though it was unclear whether he would be
allowed since deadlines to do so have long passed. His gang in
Bayelsa state has been suspected of sabotaging Chevron pipelines, as
well as involvement in kidnappings and the illegal oil trade.
(AFP, 1/13/11)
2011 Jan 14, Nigeria's former
anti-corruption czar, Nuhu Ribadu, who won international acclaim for
seeking charges against members of the oil-rich nation's political
elite, was chosen as the presidential candidate of the country's
strongest opposition party. President Goodluck Jonathan won his
ruling party's primary.
(AP, 1/14/11)(AFP, 1/14/11)
2011 Jan 22, In Nigeria
soldiers shot and killed a motorcyclist who tried to avoid an army
checkpoint, mistaking him for an Islamists seeking to carry out an
attack.
(AFP, 1/23/11)
2011 Jan 23, In northern
Nigeria suspected members of an Islamist sect, blamed for a series
of attacks in Maiduguri, shot dead a soldier guarding a church and
stole his rifle. Suspected members of the Boko Haram sect shot two
soldiers to death and injured another manning a checkpoint in
northern Biu village.
(AFP, 1/23/11)(AP, 1/25/11)
2011 Jan 24, Nigeria's foreign
minister called on the UN Security Council to authorize force in
Ivory Coast as West African nations seek to further pressure Laurent
Gbagbo to quit power.
(AFP, 1/24/11)
2011 Jan 26, In northern
Nigeria a fight over a game of billiards disintegrated into
religious violence in Bauchi state, leaving at least four people
dead among the smoldering ruins of churches and mosques in the town
of Tafawa Balewa. Members of a radical Muslim sect killed a police
officer guarding a voter registration site in Maiduguri.
(AP, 1/27/11)
2011 Jan 26, Environmental
groups accused Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell of destroying lives and
the environment in the Niger Delta, and urged Dutch MPs to intervene
as the company defended its record.
(AFP, 1/26/11)
2011 Jan 28, In central Nigeria
up to 13 people were killed overnight when men with rifles attacked
4 Christian villages near Jos. Authorities in Maiduguri said gunmen
on motorcycles shot and killed Modu Fannami Gubio, a dominant
gubernatorial candidate.
(AP, 1/28/11)(AP, 1/29/11)
2011 Jan 29, In central
Nigerian soldiers opened fire on university students in Jos
protesting continuing violence between Christians and Muslims. At
least 9 people were killed in the ensuing violence.
(AP, 1/29/11)
2011 Jan 30, In northern
Nigeria gunmen attacked a police checkpoint, killing a policeman and
leading police to shoot dead two Boko Haram gunmen in Maiduguri.
Police said they have arrested 19 people over the slaying of the
region's dominant gubernatorial candidate.
(AP, 1/30/11)
2011 Feb 3, Nigerian militants
threatened new attacks on oil facilities, saying they would blow up
pipelines and other targets because the government had not addressed
"fundamental problems."
(AFP, 2/3/11)
2011 Feb 8, Hussein Abdullahi,
Iran's ambassador to Nigeria, said that he had spoken to senior
officials of the Nigerian government as soon as an arms shipment was
seized last Oct 26 and told them that the intercepted cargo was the
third of four Gambia-bound shipments originating from Iran.
(AP, 2/10/11)
2011 Feb 9, Hussein Abdullahi,
Iran's ambassador to Nigeria, said that a Gambia-bound arms shipment
seized at Nigeria's busiest port three months ago did not breach
sanctions imposed by the UN, because Iran and Gambia had signed a
secret agreement two years before the UN's 2010 ban on Iranian arms
exports.
(AP, 2/10/11)
2011 Feb 12, In Nigeria a
stampede happened shortly after President Goodluck Jonathan
addressed a surging crowd of party supporters in a sports stadium in
Port Harcourt. 11 people were killed and a 12th person died the next
day.
(AFP, 2/13/11)
2011 Feb 15, In central Nigeria
a police officer arguing with a merchant was stabbed to death in a
market in Jos and at least two others were killed during the latest
violence to hit the region beset by sectarian fighting.
(AP, 2/16/11)
2011 Feb 17, In northern
Nigeria police killed three men after they attacked a bank and a
police station in Darazo, Bauchi state.
(AP, 2/18/11)
2011 Feb 17, Chevron and a US
aid agency announced a $50 million plan aimed at improving
conditions in Nigeria's main oil-producing region, where pollution
and poverty have led to years of unrest.
(AFP, 2/17/11)
2011 Feb 22, In central Nigeria
at least 12 people were killed after cattle thieves attacked the
village of Bere Reti Fan, a region beset by religious and ethnic
killings.
(AP, 2/22/11)
2011 Feb 23, In Nigeria two men
on a motorbike killed a senior police officer inspector after
following him to his home in Maiduguri, Borno state.
(AP, 2/24/11)
2011 Feb 26, Nigerian police
arrested Boko Haram arms dealer Mohammed Zakaria in the town of
Maiduguri. Police shot dead, Alhaji Salisu Damaturu, a man financing
the radical Islamist sect. Mohammed Goni was identified as another
financier of the group. Weapons recovered from their hideout
included 12 rocket launchers, two pistols, one loaded AK-47 rifle,
two detonating bomb cables and more than 3,000 rounds of ammunition.
(AFP, 2/27/11)
2011 Mar 3, In Nigeria a bomb
exploded at a political rally in Suleija, Niger state, for Babangida
Aliyu, the gubernatorial candidate for the People's Democratic
Party, Nigeria's ruling party, killing 3 people and wounding 21
others. A 4th person died of wounds the next day.
(AP, 3/3/11)(AP, 3/4/11)
2011 Mar 3, Pirates off the
coast of Nigeria's commercial capital of Lagos attacked a chemical
tanker in an unsuccessful bid to board and rob the ship in the Gulf
of Guinea.
(AP, 3/7/11)
2011 Mar 11, Jeffrey Tesler
(62), a former British lawyer accused of helping a former
Halliburton Co. subsidiary illegally bribe Nigerian officials to win
over $6 billion in construction contracts, pleaded guilty in Houston
to federal charges of conspiracy and violating the Foreign Corrupt
Practices Act.
(SFC, 3/12/11, p.A9)
2011 Mar 13, In central Nigeria
6 people died in attacks on two villages near Jos.
(SFC, 3/15/11, p.A2)
2011 Mar 18, In Nigeria sea
raiders carted away some $400,000 from Douala’s Pan-African Ecobank
killing 7 people. Two gunmen were arrested after the attack.
Cameroon’s army later said it killed 18 pirates suspected of the
robbery. Police in Cameroon later detained 4 navy officers and 5
civilians in connection with the robbery.
(SFC, 4/21/11, p.A2)
2011 Mar 20, In Nigeria a bomb
carried by two men aboard a motorcycle killed them when it
accidentally exploded in the central city of Jos.
(AFP, 3/20/11)
2011 Mar 21, In central Nigeria
at least three people died in Jos after a fight over where a
political rally would be held for Muhammadu Buhari, a former
military ruler running for president.
(AP, 3/21/11)
2011 Mar 26, In Nigeria police
and local media said John James Akpanudoedehe, an opposition
politician for governor in Akwa Ibom state, has been charged with
treason after clashes killed four and left a campaign office for the
president burnt in the main oil region.
(AFP, 3/26/11)
2011 Apr 1, Nigeria tightened
security and shut its land borders ahead of the start of a landmark
election period to choose a new legislature, president and state
governors over three successive weekends.
(AGFP, 4/1/11)
2011 Apr 1, In central Nigeria
a fuel tanker overturned at an army checkpoint, sparking an inferno
in which 17 vehicles were engulfed in flames. Some 50 people were
killed.
(AFP, 4/2/11)
2011 Apr 2, Nigeria postponed
parliamentary elections until April 4 after voting materials failed
to arrive in many areas, a major blow to hopes of a break with a
history of chaotic polls. Attackers stormed three villages In
central Nigeria killing at least two people and setting a number of
houses ablaze.
(Reuters, 4/2/11)(AFP, 4/3/11)
2011 Apr 3, Nigeria’s electoral
commission postponed the legislative vote to April 9.
(SFC, 4/4/11, p.A2)
2011 Apr 6, In Nigeria 3
motorcycle-mounted gunmen, members of Boko Haram, killed two
passers-by in Maiduguri. One of the suspects was shot dead after a
police chase. A senior immigration official said Nigeria has
deported 87 Niger nationals over fears they could be involved in
election rigging during this month's rescheduled polls.
(AP, 4/6/11)(AFP, 4/6/11)
2011 Apr 8, In Nigeria a bomb
targeting election officials exploded in Suleja killing at least 8
people. Thugs attacked a police post storing voting materials
killing at least 12 people.
(SFC, 4/9/11, p.A2)(Econ, 4/16/11, p.52)
2011 Apr 9, Nigeria held
parliamentary elections. The ruling party lost key parliament seats
in the first of three crucial elections this month.
(AFP, 4/10/11)
2011 Apr 15, In Nigeria gunmen
who hid their Kalashnikov rifles in long flowing gowns attacked
residents in the city of Maiduguri. Two people were killed and five
others wounded a day ahead of the country's presidential election.
(AP, 4/15/11)
2011 Apr 16, Nigeria held
elections on whether to keep their accidental president, Goodluck
Jonathan, in power. An explosion hit a police station in the
northeastern city of Maiduguri just as presidential elections were
beginning.
(AP, 4/16/11)(Reuters, 4/16/11)
2011 Apr 17, In Nigeria
President Goodluck Jonathan took what appeared to be an unassailable
lead as votes were tallied from around the country, despite a strong
showing by rival Muhammadu Buhari in his mainly-Muslim strongholds.
Rioting began in the Muslim north as early results showed Jonathan
in the lead. Christians retaliated and the violence over the next
few days left at least 70 people dead.
(Reuters, 4/17/11)(SFC, 4/21/11, p.A2)
2011 Apr 18, The Nigerian Red
Cross said rioting in cities across northern Nigeria has killed many
people with homes, churches and mosques set ablaze as election
officials released results showing the Christian incumbent had
gained an insurmountable lead.
(Reuters, 4/18/11)(AP, 4/18/11)
2011 Apr 19, In Nigeria burned
corpses with machete wounds lay in roads and smoke rose above Kaduna
where rioting broke out again among Muslim opposition supporters who
were angered by the announcement that the Christian incumbent
president had won the election.
(AP, 4/19/11)
2011 Apr 20, In Nigeria
opposition presidential candidate, ex-military ruler Muhammadu
Buhari, urged calm saying he would pursue his complaints through
legal means as post-poll unrest in Nigeria was reported to have
killed more than 200 people.
(AFP, 4/20/11)
2011 Apr 22, In northern
Nigeria suspects detained in post-election violence have rioted at
an overcrowded jail and more than a dozen of them escaped.
(AFP, 4/23/11)
2011 Apr 23, In northern
Nigeria at least two suspected bomb-makers were killed in a blast in
Kaduna close to a residential neighborhood for members of local
government.
(Reuters, 4/23/11)
2011 Apr 24, Nigerian police
said at least 11 recent college graduates who helped run polling
stations as part of the country's national youth service corps have
been killed in postelection violence in northern Nigeria and other
female poll workers have been raped. A Nigerian human rights group
said more than 500 people were killed in post-election violence last
week in the mostly Muslim north.
(AP, 4/24/11)(Reuters, 4/24/11)
2011 Apr 25, In northeastern
Nigeria police said an explosion at a hotel killed three people and
wounded 14 others only days before the state's gubernatorial
election.
(AP, 4/25/11)
2011 Apr 26, Nigeria voted for
state governors, the last of three landmark elections that have
triggered deadly unrest, as fresh bomb blasts jolted the
northeastern city of Maiduguri. The presidential poll earlier this
month left at least 500 people dead. A suspected Islamist sect
member opened fire at a polling station in Maiduguri during voting,
killing one person and wounding four.
(AFP, 4/26/11)(AP, 4/26/11)(AFP, 4/27/11)
2011 Apr 28, Nigeria's ruling
party won the delayed governorship elections in two northern states
where hundreds died in rioting after a vote two weeks ago.
(Reuters, 4/30/11)
2011 May 6, In Nigeria polling
opened in some parts of the state of Imo for a governorship election
after irregularities marred a previous exercise. Attackers killed at
least 16 people and set fire to more than a dozen houses in Tafawa
Balewa, Bauchi state, a town that has been beset by years of
sectarian violence.
(AFP, 5/6/11)(Reuters, 5/7/11)
2011 May 8, Nigeria's
opposition Congress for Progressive Change party asked a court to
nullify the election of Pres. Goodluck Jonathan because of alleged
irregularities in some areas.
(AFP, 5/8/11)
2011 May 12, In northern
Nigeria two motorcycle-riding gunmen opened fire on local chief Abba
Mukhtar outside his home in Maiduguri, killing him and seriously
wounding a friend. In the northwest gunmen kidnapped an Italian and
a Briton who had been working for an construction company in the
state capital of Birnin-Kebbi. Italian engineer Franco Lamolinara
(48) and his British colleague Chris McManus (28) were shot dead by
their captors during a British-Nigerian rescue attempt on March 8,
2012.
(AFP, 5/13/11)(AP, 5/14/11)(AP, 3/9/12)
2011 May 13, In northern
Nigeria suspected members of an Islamist sect shot and killed a
driver for a state governor. A blast in Borno state killed two
bystanders at a bus stop. 18 people were killed after a bus crashed
head-on with a car in the country's northeast.
(AFP, 5/13/11)(AP, 5/14/11)
2011 May 19, In northeastern
Nigeria a bomb went off wounding five soldiers and policemen just
hours after a gang of suspected Islamists raided a police station.
(AFP, 5/19/11)
2011 May 23, In Nigeria a Borno
State policeman on patrol was killed in a drive-by shooting near St.
Mary Catholic Church in the city of Maiduguri. Boko Haram, a radical
Muslim sect, was blamed for the killing.
(AP, 5/24/11)
2011 May 24, In Nigeria a fire
engulfed a pipeline belonging to a subsidiary of state-owned oil
company Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation in the town of
Amukpe.
(AP, 5/25/11)
2011 May 29, In Nigeria
Goodluck Jonathan was sworn in for a full four-year term as
president and faced the challenge of uniting a country that saw
deadly postelection violence despite what observers called the
fairest vote in over a decade. A blast in the city of Bauchi killed
15 people. One bomb went off at a beer garden in Zuba, near the
capital, killing two people and wounding at least 11. Another
explosion in the northern city of Zaria also targeted a bar hours
after the inauguration.
(AP, 5/29/11)(AP, 5/30/11)
2011 May 29, Nigerian police
raided the Cross Foundation in Aba, a home allegedly being used to
force teenage girls to have babies that were then offered for sale
for trafficking or other purposes. Dr. Hyacinth Orikara was arrested
and 32 pregnant girls, aged 15-17, were rescued.
(AFP, 6/1/11)(Reuters, 6/2/11)
2011 Jun 7, In Nigeria at least
11 people were killed in multiple blasts and targeted attacks by the
Boko Haram Muslim sect.
(SFC, 6/8/11, p.A2)
2011 Jun 15, In Nigeria a man
claiming to be a Boko Haram spokesman warned that the group would
launch more attacks after being angered by comments from the
national police chief. A day earlier Inspector General of Police
Hafiz Ringim said during a visit to the northeastern city of
Maiduguri that "the days of Boko Haram are numbered."
(AP, 6/16/11)
2011 Jun 16, In Nigeria a
suicide bombing blamed on radical Islamist militants killed a
policeman in the parking lot of police headquarters in Abuja. The
next day the Boko Haram sect said it was behind the attack. Security
experts said it was the first suicide bombing in Nigeria.
(AP, 6/16/11)(AFP, 6/17/11)
2011 Jun 20, In Nigeria gunmen
shot a nurse dead and wounded four others who were playing poker at
a bus stop in the city of Maiduguri. The same group of gunmen killed
a security officer in a separate attack hours later. Police
suspected members of the radical Muslim sect known as Boko Haram.
Gunmen killed five police officers and a bystander in a bank robbery
in Kankara staged to look like a militant attack.
(AP, 6/20/11)(AP, 6/21/11)
2011 Jun 23, In Nigeria
unusually heavy rains flooded a neighborhood in the northern city of
Kano killed 24 people overnight.
(AFP, 6/23/11)
2011 Jun 26, In Nigeria 2 men
riding motorbikes tossed bombs and fired on a crowded beer garden in
Maiduguri killing at least 25 people. The attackers were believed to
be members of Boko Haram.
(AFP, 6/27/11)
2011 Jun 27, In Nigeria two
girls were killed and three customs officers wounded from a bombing
in the northeastern city of Maiduguri.
(AP, 6/28/11)
2011 Jun 28, In northeastern
Nigeria lightning strikes in Gombe and Yobe states killed eight men,
four women and three children.
(AP, 6/29/11)
2011 Jul 2, In Nigeria 3 gunmen
from the Boko Haram sect shot and killed four people in Maiduguri.
(AP, 7/3/11)
2011 Jul 3, In Nigeria
assailants threw a bomb at drinking spot near a police barracks in
Maiduguri. At least 8 people were killed and 15 others
wounded.
(AP, 7/4/11)
2011 Jul 4, Nigeria's secret
police said it was holding over 100 leaders and members of a
northern-based "dissident" group it did not name.
(AFP, 7/5/11)
2011 Jul 5, In Nigeria 11
people were killed and 30 rescued when a four-storey building
collapsed in the central business district of Lagos.
(AFP, 7/6/11)(AFP, 7/16/11)
2011 Jul 6, In Nigeria 3
soldiers were injured when a bomb hit a military checkpoint near a
food market in Maiduguri where attacks by suspected Islamist
radicals have killed dozens. Ali Modu Sheriff, a former governor of
northern Borno state (2003-2011), sent an apology to Boko Haram over
his role in the brutal military crackdown on the radical Islamist
sect. Last week, ex-governor of neighboring Gombe State Danjuma
Goje, now a senator, and Bauchi State Governor Isa Yuguda, in
separate statements apologized to Boko Haram for any role they might
have played in rights violations against its members during the
uprising. The sect has demanded a public apology as part of
condition for a truce with the government. Gunmen suspected of being
members of an Islamist sect raided a police station overnight in the
northern state of Bauchi, stealing weapons.
(AFP, 7/6/11)(AFP, 7/7/11)
2011 Jul 7, In Nigeria
motorcycles were completely banned in the northeastern city of
Maiduguri, wracked by violence blamed on the Boko Haram Islamist
sect.
(AFP, 7/8/11)
2011 Jul 9, Nigerian special
military forces in Niger Delta arrested four suspects after troops
raided sites where stolen oil was illegally being "refined." More
than 1,000 the sites were destroyed during the operation. At least
25 people, including a 13-year-old boy, were killed during a
military and police operation against a radical Muslim sect in
Maiduguri. Security forces launched a search operation after two
suspected members threw two homemade bombs at patrol cars from a
moving bus. The blasts wounded five soldiers.
(AFP, 7/9/11)(AP, 7/10/11)(AFP, 7/15/11)
2011 Jul 10, In Nigeria a bomb
blast killed three people outside a church in Suleja, just north of
Abuja.
(AP, 7/11/11)
2011 Jul 11, In Nigeria
numerous roads and highways were flooded following the heavy
downpour which a day earlier and continued in Lagos, a city of some
15 million people. At least 29 people died from flooding in Katsina
and Lagos. An explosive went off under a van as its driver slowed
down at a military checkpoint in the city of Maiduguri. 3 people
were killed.
(AFP, 7/11/11)(AP, 7/12/11)
2011 Jul 12, In Nigeria the
University of Maiduguri said it is closing indefinitely after
receiving bomb threats from Boko Haram, a radical Muslim sect.
spokesman Ahmed Mohammed said the school could no longer guarantee
the safety of its 35,000 students.
(AP, 7/12/11)
2011 Jul 14, German Chancellor
Angela Merkel met the president of oil-and-gas rich Nigeria after
her trip to Angola the previous day sparked controversy over an
offer to sell patrol boats.
(AFP, 7/14/11)
2011 Jul 15, In Nigeria
assailants from the Boko Haram sect threw a bomb at a police patrol
car in Maiduguri wounding seven civilians. Colonel Victor Ebhaleme
said a bomb was planted and a police van drove over it, exploding
and injuring eight policemen.
(AP, 7/15/11)(AFP, 7/15/11)
2011 Jul 15, In Nigeria a
second building collapsed since the start of the month in Lagos
killing two people. 6 others were rescued.
(AFP, 7/16/11)
2011 Jul 16, The Greek oil
tanker 'Aegean Star' belonging to the Endeavour Marine Agency
company and flying a Liberian flag was hijacked, 30 nautical miles
off the coast of Nigeria. The ship was released on July 18.
(AFP, 7/18/11)(Reuters, 7/18/11)
2011 Jul 19, Britain’s PM David
Cameron visited Nigeria, pushing a message of trade, aid and
democracy before making an early return home to deal with the
spiraling phone hacking crisis. Fresh clashes between Muslim and
Christian youths left five people dead and 12 seriously injured in
Jos.
(AFP, 7/19/11)(AFP, 7/20/11)
2011 Jul 21, In Nigeria a gun
battle between soldiers and suspected Islamists broke out after a
failed bomb attack in Maiduguri leaving one extremist dead.
(AFP, 7/21/11)
2011 Jul 23, In Nigeria a bomb
exploded in a busy neighborhood in Maiduguri. A witness said at
least eight people were killed. Amnesty International said the
Nigerian Joint Military Task Force responded by shooting and killing
at least 23 people, apparently at random.
(AP, 7/24/11)(AFP, 7/25/11)
2011 Jul 26, Nigeria's central
bank jacked up its main interest rate by 0.75 points to 8.75
percent, the fourth increase in six months in a move aimed at
putting a lid on inflation.
(AFP, 7/26/11)
2011 Jul 30, In southwest
Nigeria two women and a male pilot died after a helicopter crashed
in a hilly area outside Ife-Odan in Osun state.
(AP, 7/30/11)
2011 Aug 4, In Nigeria a clash
between security forces and suspected members of a radical Muslim
sect left two dead in the volatile northeast. The clash came after
six assailants from the Boko Haram sect detonated a bomb that blew
up the median of a major Maiduguri road.
(AP, 8/4/11)
2011 Aug 4, A UN report was
released that described oil destroying crops and seeping into
drinking water supplies in Ogoniland, Nigeria, a region of the Niger
Delta. In one case, the UN found one village where drinking water
was polluted with benzene 900 times more than the international
limit.
(AP, 8/5/11)
2011 Aug 5, Nigerian officials
said the government has taken over management of three banks rescued
under a major 2009 bailout amid concerns over their ability to
recapitalize by a September 30 deadline.
(AFP, 8/6/11)
2011 Aug 8, In Nigeria gunmen
killed five people and wounded four others in a nighttime attack on
in Bisichi village, Plateau state, leaving the dead mutilated with
machete wounds. Boko Haram attackers killed a senior prison official
and a school teacher in Maiduguri.
(AP, 8/9/11)(AP, 8/10/11)
2011 Aug 9, In Nigeria a clash
between soldiers and youths in the northeast over the arrest of
suspected members of Boko Haram killed one person and wounded two.
Attackers with machetes hacked at least two people to death and
seriously wounded four others in a village near the deeply divided
city of Jos.
(AP, 8/10/11)(AFP, 8/9/11)
2011 Aug 11, US pharmaceutical
giant Pfizer began long-awaited compensation payments to Nigerian
families over a 1996 drug trial blamed for the deaths of 11 children
and disabilities in dozens of others. Only four families were paid
in the initial disbursements, while some 200 children participated
in the trial of meningitis drug Trovan.
(AFP, 8/12/11)
2011 Aug 12, In Nigeria cleric
Liman Bana (65) died after sustaining gunshot wounds while walking
home from conducting prayers at the main mosque in Ngala, a border
town with Chad. Police blamed the attack on the Boko Haram group.
(AP, 8/14/11)
2011 Aug 14, In Nigeria
attackers stabbed eight people to death in Jos, a central region
beset by religious and ethnic tensions.
(AP, 8/15/11)
2011 Aug 15, Nigerian guards in
Borno state killed the 25-year-old man who was driving a sedan
loaded with seven gas cylinders and cans of gasoline and gunpowder
into a police headquarters hosting a recruitment drive. In the north
gunmen attacked a microfinance bank, carting away bags of cash and
bombing a police station when making their escape. Gunmen attacked
two separate police stations across northern Nigeria, killing four
police officers and two civilians in one attack while bombing a
station in another.
(AP, 8/15/11)(AP, 8/16/11)
2011 Aug 18, In Nigeria
attackers shot dead Tafai Saifudeen (55), a Lebanese auto parts
dealer, in front of his shop on Murtala Mohammed Way in the city of
Kano.
(AP, 8/19/11)
2011 Aug 19, In Nigeria 3
policemen and a civilian were shot and killed at a residence in
Maiduguri by suspected members of the radical Boko Haram Muslim
sect.
(AP, 8/19/11)
2011 Aug 21, In Nigeria three
Christians died in an overnight attack on the village of Kwi in
troubled Plateau state. At least 4 people died in floods in the
northeast town of Kari. Some 1,800 people were displaced by the
floods. Another house collapse in Kano killed six more people.
Nigerian officers arrested Babagana Ismail Kwaljima and Babagan
Mali, two men tied to Boko Haram. They were planning an attack that
took place on August 26. A 3rd suspect, Mamman Nur, remained at
large.
(AP, 8/21/11)(AP, 8/22/11)(SFC, 9/1/11, p.A2)
2011 Aug 22, Royal Dutch shell
said sabotage in Nigeria has led to six oil spills from one Shell
pipeline since the start of the month, while damage to another line
has caused a temporary production halt.
(AFP, 8/22/11)
2011 Aug 23, In northern
Nigeria the flood-related death toll rose to 15 as a river in the
town of Numan overflowed during a five-hour rainstorm.
(AP, 8/24/11)
2011 Aug 25, In Nigeria the
Boko Haram radical Muslim sect, blamed for attacks across the
northeast, attacked two police stations and robbed two banks,
killing 16 people in an assault highlighting the group's escalating
willingness to shed blood.
(AFP, 8/25/11)
2011 Aug 26, In Nigeria a
suicide bomber in car laden with explosives rammed through two gates
and blew up at the UN offices in Abuja shattering part of the
4-story concrete structure. 23 people were killed and 116 wounded.
The radical Muslim sect known locally as Boko Haram claimed
responsibility for the attack. Two of the injured died later
bringing the death toll to 25.
(AP, 8/26/11)(AP, 8/27/11)(AP, 9/15/11)(AP,
12/28/11)
2011 Aug 26, The UN wildlife
trade regulator said it was lifting its 2005 suspension on wildlife
commerce with Nigeria, citing the country's improved efforts to
combat illegal trade.
(AFP, 8/26/11)
2011 Aug 27, Seven heavily
armed assailants boarded the Cameroonian ship Monica with 150 people
on board off the coast of Nigeria and took its captain hostage. The
others on board were released unharmed.
(AFP, 8/27/11)
2011 Aug 28, In northeast
Nigeria gunmen stormed the home of Lawan Yaraye, chairman of Kukawa
district in Borno state, and shot him dead.
(AFP, 8/29/11)
2011 Aug 28, In Nigeria heavy
rains that caused a dam to overflow in the southwest and led to
houses being submerged killing 102 people and displaced thousands.
Most of the victims were children who drowned in the city of Ibadan.
(AP, 8/28/11)(AP, 8/29/11)(AFP, 8/31/11)
2011 Aug 29, In Nigeria
religious rioting began in Jos leaving 4 people dead. Four
days of fighting left at least 21 people dead in the city on the
volatile dividing line between Nigeria's largely Christian south and
Muslim north.
(AP, 9/2/11)
2011 Aug 30, Nigerian officials
said cholera has killed 35 people in northern Sokoto and Yobe states
in recent days.
(AP, 8/31/11)
2011 Aug 30, Nigerian officials
said cholera has killed 35 people in northern Sokoto and Yobe states
in recent days.
(AFP, 8/30/11)
2011 Sep 2, A Nigerian army
spokesman said soldiers have shot dead a suspected Islamist and
wounded another in northeastern Adamawa state where 16 people were
killed last week in attacks on police stations and banks. 3 people
were killed when armed fighters clashed with security forces in the
city of Biu.
(AFP, 9/2/11)(AP, 9/3/11)
2011 Sep 3, In Nigeria unknown
gunmen stormed a mainly Christian-dominated community overnight and
hacked eight members of a family to death in Tatu.
(AP, 9/4/11)
2011 Sep 4, In Nigeria 3 people
were killed near the city of Jos. Islamic cleric Mallam Dala was
shot and killed after two men burst into his house. Attacks in two
villages in central Nigeria, Targom-Babale and Dabwak, killed 11
people, including children.
(AFP, 9/4/11)(AP, 9/4/11)(AFP, 9/5/11)
2011 Sep 5, Nigeria’s central
bank said it plans to include the Chinese yuan as part of its
foreign exchange reserves, a symbolic shift in Africa's largest oil
producer and one of its biggest economies.
(AFP, 9/5/11)
2011 Sep 6, Nigeria's secret
police announced that they had arrested five suspected members of a
radical Muslim sect accused of bombing an election office (April 8)
and a church (July 10) near the oil-rich nation's capital. A
bomb went off in Maiduguri disrupting a three-week lull in bombings
in the violence-torn city.
(AP, 9/6/11)(AFP, 9/6/11)
2011 Sep 8, In Nigeria gunmen
attacked Tsohon Foron village outside Jos, killing 12 people,
including 7 children. Witnesses blamed the attack on regional Muslim
Fulani herders.
(AP, 9/9/11)(AP, 9/10/11)
2011 Sep 9, In Nigeria 13
people are thought to have been killed in overnight attacks near
Jos, a city beset by ethnic and religious slayings.
(AP, 9/10/11)
2011 Sep 10, In Nigeria four
policemen on illegal duty at a burial ceremony started shooting,
killing three people among the mourners. The officers were suspected
of being drunk.
(AFP, 9/12/11)
2011 Sep 10, Leaders of Ivory
Coast and Liberia were joined by counterparts from West Africa for
talks on security along the border between their two countries after
a bloody post-poll crisis. Presidents Alassane Ouattara and Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf were joined by Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso,
Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, John Atta Mills of Ghana and Nigerian
summit host Goodluck Jonathan, under the aegis of regional bloc
ECOWAS.
(AFP, 9/10/11)
2011 Sep 12, In northern
Nigeria gunmen firing assault rifles bombed a police station and
robbed a nearby bank, killing at least five people in Misau, Bauchi
state. Members of Boko Haram, a radical Muslim sect shot, and killed
four people at a beer parlor in Maiduguri.
(AP, 9/12/11)(AP, 9/13/11)
2011 Sep 13, In Nigeria
suspected members of the Boko Haram radical Muslim sect attacked an
army patrol in Maiduguri, wounding four soldiers. The soldiers later
arrested 15 people on suspicion of being sect members, with some of
them carrying weapons and ammunition.
(AP, 9/14/11)
2011 Sep 13, In Nigeria
Kindreck Dion Lee (34), one of Britain's most wanted drug and
firearm suspects, was arrested in Lagos. He was wanted for his
alleged involvement in bringing cocaine, cannabis, firearms and
ammunition into the country from Amsterdam.
(AFP, 9/16/11)
2011 Sep 14, In Nigeria members
of the radical Muslim Boko Haram sect killed three people and
wounded two others in a shooting in Maiduguri.
(AP, 9/15/11)
2011 Sep 14, Armed pirates
raided a tanker off the West African coast and kidnapped 23 sailors,
62 nautical miles from Benin's capital of Cotonou, as the
Cyprus-flagged vessel tried to transfer its cargo of crude oil to a
Norwegian-registered ship. Analysts believed many of the pirates
come from Nigeria, where corrupt law enforcement allows criminality
to thrive.
(AP, 9/14/11)
2011 Sep 15, Former Nigerian
President Olusegun Obasanjo spoke with the family of late Boko Haram
leader Mohammed Yusuf for two hours in the northeast city of
Maiduguri. Relatives said current attacks represented revenge
against the government for Yusuf's death and the killing of two
other leaders during the 2009 uprising. Relatives also said they
have representatives in Chad, Niger and Cameroon.
(AP, 9/16/11)
2011 Sep 17, In Nigeria
Babakura Fugu, a relative of the slain leader of the Boko Haram
radical Muslim sect, was shot dead, only two days after taking part
in peace talks led by a former president.
(AP, 9/18/11)
2011 Sep 18, In Nigeria unknown
gunmen shot dead four people and injured several others in a raid on
a Christian farming village in northern Nigerian Kaduna state.
(AFP, 9/18/11)
2011 Sep 19, It was reported
that Nigeria-based Dangote Group, headed by Aliko Dangote, once
dubbed Africa's richest man by Forbes, planned to build Africa’s
largest fertilizer plant in Edo state to be operation in 2014.
(AFP, 9/19/11)
2011 Sep 20, In Nigeria local
authorities dismissed a 10-minute video of a Nigerian woman
repeatedly asking her attackers to kill her as they take turns
raping her at a university dormitory. The video had circulated for
weeks around the campus of Abia State University before being posted
on the Internet.
(AP, 9/21/11)
2011 Sep 23, In Nigeria a
40-foot container of explosive materials was intercepted at the port
of Tin Can in Lagos. The container, which arrived a week ago,
originated from China and was falsely declared to contain industrial
spares and children's toys.
(AFP, 9/24/11)
2011 Sep 23, Nigerian officials
said a fresh cholera outbreak in the north has killed at least six
people, raising the overall toll in the country to more than over
200 in recent months.
(AFP, 9/23/11)
2011 Sep 25, Nigeria’s NEXT
newspaper, run by a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, stopped
publication after 2½ years of muckraking and sometimes
controversial coverage of Africa's most populous nation. The
newspaper's advertising dwindled in recent months, forcing it from
publishing six days a week to only on Sunday.
(AP, 9/25/11)
2011 Sep 26, Anglo-Dutch oil
group Shell said it has shut in 25,000 barrels per day of crude in a
southern Nigerian oil field due to spills caused by sabotage and
theft.
(AFP, 9/26/11)
2011 Sep 28, In Nigeria Borno
state Gov. Kashim Shettima said security forces have arrested a top
commander of a radical Muslim sect who is accused of orchestrating
attacks in the country's northeast that have left police, clerics
and others dead. Police on patrol found the corpses of 12 persons,
suspected murdered, with their hands tied at the back, in the Niger
Delta region. 10 people were killed after an out-of-control cement
truck crashed into a taxi and bus stand in the northern town of
Dukku, Gombe state.
(AP, 9/28/11)(AP, 9/29/11)(AFP, 9/30/11)
2011 Sep 29, A Nigerian joint
security team including the military and intelligence agents rescued
a Romanian engineer along with six Nigerian workers who had been
kidnapped earlier in the week in the same state. A truck accident in
Gombe state killed 19 people.
(AFP, 9/30/11)(AP, 10/3/11)
2011 Oct 1, In northeastern
Nigeria attackers used explosives and gunfire to target an army
patrol near a wedding, killing at least three civilians in
Maiduguri. In a separate incident, a butcher and his assistant were
shot dead by gunmen in Maiduguri.
(AFP, 10/2/11)
2011 Oct 2, In northern Nigeria
some 150 attackers raided Lingyado village, Zamfara state, going
house to house to shoot people who came out to greet them. Others
were slashed and stabbed to death by machetes. 19 people were
reported killed. State police chief soon arrested seven people
suspected of involvement in the raid.
(AP, 10/2/11)(AFP, 10/3/11)
2011 Oct 3, In Nigeria gunmen
suspected of being members of the Boko Haram Islamist sect shot dead
three people at a market in the violence-torn northern city of
Maiduguri.
(AFP, 10/3/11)
2011 Oct 3, In Nigeria a tanker
truck collided with a 16-seat minibus along the Damaturu-Potiskum
road in Yobe state. 11 people were killed.
(AP, 10/3/11)
2011 Oct 6, India-owned Airtel,
one of the west African nation's biggest telecom firms, said
that more than five million telephone subscribers in Nigeria have
been cut off after protesters attacked an exchange. The protesters,
members of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the nation's central
labor movement, were protesting against the alleged casualisation of
workers in Airtel and the dismissal of 3,000 employees, charges
denied by the company.
(AFP, 10/6/11)
2011 Oct 8, Pirates off Nigeria
boarded the MT Cape Bird, a chemical tanker believed to be a
Marshall Islands-flagged vessel, about 90 nautical miles from Lagos.
20 Eastern European sailors were onboard. The crew and vessel were
freed on Oct 14.
(AFP, 10/10/11)(AP, 10/12/11)(AFP, 10/14/11)
2011 Oct 9, In Nigeria
suspected members of the Boko haram radical sect set off a bomb near
a mosque in Maiduguri. A soldier and one civilian died from their
injuries. The military was accused of abuses following the attacks.
(AP, 10/10/11)(AFP, 10/10/11)
2011 Oct 11, Nigeria's secret
police said 3 additional suspects, including a banker, have been
arrested over two car bombings on the Oct 1, 2010, Independence Day
in Abuja, which killed at least 12 people.
(AFP, 10/11/11)
2011 Oct 12, Police in Nigeria
raided the Abuja office of The Nation newspaper. A day earlier
detectives arrested five journalists over the publication of a
purported letter from the nation's former president instructing its
current leader to fire government officials. The letter hit a nerve
in Nigerian politics, as it recommended replacing leaders from the
Muslim north as opposed to the country's Christian south. 4 of the 5
journalists were released this evening.
(AP, 10/12/11)(AFP, 10/13/11)
2011 Oct 12, In Nigeria members
of the Boko Haram radical Muslim sect attacked a bank in the
northeast, killing one police officer and stealing an undisclosed
sum of money in Damboa, Borno state.
(AP, 10/12/11)
2011 Oct 13, In Nigeria
protesters marched to an army barracks to demand justice for the
death of the cell phone market chairman known as Umar Quality.
(AP, 10/13/11)
2011 Oct 14, In northeastern
Nigeria suspected members of the Boko Haram radical Muslim sect shot
and killed a policeman in Maiduguri.
(AP, 10/15/11)
2011 Oct 15, In Nigeria the
bodies of community leader Ahmadu Ali Kazaure and Babangida Ibrahim
Yusuf (23) were dropped off at a local mortuary in Jos. Soldiers had
picked up the men hours earlier over the machete killing of a
soldier.
(AP, 10/17/11)
2011 Oct 16, In Nigeria four
people died after a blast rocked a police base in the town of Kwami
just north of the state capital of Gombe. 3 suspected Boko Haram
members entered the Maiduguri home of Borno state Rep. Modu Bintube
and shot him in the chest and head with Kalashnikovs.
(AP, 10/16/11)
2011 Oct 18, Nigeria's military
said it had arrested 50 suspected oil thieves in the past three
months and destroyed some 2,000 illicit refineries this year in the
oil-producing Niger Delta region.
(AFP, 10/18/11)
2011 Oct 18, A Nigerian tribal
king filed a lawsuit in a US court in Detroit, Michigan, seeking $1
billion from Royal Dutch Shell to compensate for decades of
pollution that sickened his people and damaged their lands. The suit
was brought on behalf of the people of Ogale in the Eleme local
government area, where the UN team found the most serious
groundwater contamination and people drinking water laced with
cancer-causing benzene at 900 times World Health Organization
guidelines.
(AFP, 10/20/11)
2011 Oct 19, In northeastern
Nigeria suspected Boko Haram sect members killed four people in
three separate attacks in Maiduguri.
(AP, 10/20/11)
2011 Oct 19, The US
Export-Import Bank signed a deal with Nigeria aimed at providing
$1.5 billion in financing for investments in the country's woefully
inadequate electricity sector.
(AFP, 10/19/11)
2011 Oct 20, Nigeria's military
arrested 46 suspects and seized a vessel laden with stolen refined
petroleum products in the oil-producing Niger Delta.
(AFP, 10/23/11)
2011 Oct 21, Nigerian
ex-militant leader, Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, head of the Niger Delta
Peoples Volunteer Force, called Moamer Kadhafi a "martyr" and vowed
that his killing would be avenged. Asari claims to have lived in
Libya and to have had links with Kadhafi.
(AFP, 10/21/11)
2011 Oct 22, In Nigeria gunmen
shot dead Zakariyya Isa, a reporter with the state-run Nigerian
Television Authority (NTA), in the northern city of Maiduguri. The
radical Boko Haram sect soon claimed responsibility.
(AFP, 10/22/11)(AFP, 10/24/11)
2011 Oct 24, In northern
Nigeria gunmen shot dead a policeman at his home in an apparent
targeted killing in Damaturu, Yobe state.
(AFP, 10/25/11)
2011 Oct 25, Nigeria’s
anti-graft agency said a court has jailed 7 Nigerians and 2
Ghanaians for dealing in illegal petroleum products.
(AFP, 10/25/11)
2011 Oct 28, In Nigeria hackers
calling themselves NaijaCyberHacktivists hit the website of the top
anti-corruption agency over a government official suggesting tighter
Internet control.
(AP, 10/28/11)
2011 Oct 28, Nigeria's military
seized a ship laden with 5,000 tons of stolen oil amid rising cases
of crude theft in one of the world's main oil producing regions.
(AFP, 10/31/11)
2011 Oct 30, Pirates off the
coast of Nigeria seized the MT Halifax oil tanker with over 20 crew.
(AFP, 11/3/11)(SFC, 11/4/11, p.A2)
2011 Nov 3, In central Nigeria
an attack took place on a church in Tabak, a village near Zonkwa,
Kaduna state, leaving 2 people dead and 12 others were injured.
Residents angered by the attack rioted into the next day.
(AP, 11/4/11)
2011 Nov 4, In Nigeria an
attack started with a car bomb exploding outside a three-story
building used as a military office and barracks in Damaturu, capital
of Yobe state, with many uniformed security agents dying in the
blast. Gunmen then went through the town, blowing up a First Bank
PLC branch and attacking at least three police stations and some
churches. Gunfire continued through the night and gunmen raided the
village of Potiskum near the capital as well, leaving at least two
people dead there. Another bombing alongside a road in Maiduguri
killed four people. Suicide bombers driving a black SUV detonated
outside a military base. At least 150 people died over the next 24
hours in the wave of bombings and shootings.
(AP, 11/5/11)(AFP, 11/6/11)
2011 Nov 6, In Nigeria gunmen
suspected of being members of Boko Haram shot dead a police officer
at his home as he returned from Eid morning prayers in Maiduguri.
(AFP, 11/6/11)
2011 Nov 7, In central Nigeria
16 people were killed after two buses crashed head-on into each
other on a highway in Kogi state.
(AP, 11/8/11)
2011 Nov 8, In Nigeria it was
reported that that nearly all the Christians and non-natives of Yobe
state had fled their homes in Damaturu, the state capital, following
Boko Haram attacks that killed more than 100 people.
(AP, 11/8/11)
2011 Nov 9, In Nigeria
organizers said secret police in Nigeria have detained Wale Ajani,
who was helping organize a planned hunger strike over the possible
removal of fuel subsidies. In the northeast suspected members of the
Boko Haram radical Muslim sect killed two civilians in a police
station blast in Mainok.
(AP, 11/9/11)(AP, 11/10/11)
2011 Nov 9, Shell said a
pipeline fire in southern Nigeria has caused a cut in oil production
in the country, with a spill also reported in connection with the
incident.
(AFP, 11/9/11)
2011 Nov 12, Nigeria evacuated
from Mali 104 of its citizens, mostly women, either made to work as
"sexual slaves" or suspected of involvement in human trafficking.
(AFP, 11/15/11)
2011 Nov 12, French Foreign
Minister Alain Juppe vowed to help Nigeria in its fight against
extremist groups as the country faces an intensifying Islamist
insurgency. Nigeria is France's biggest trading partner in
sub-Saharan Africa.
(AFP, 11/12/11)
2011 Nov 13, Anglo-Dutch oil
giant Shell reported a fresh spill from a key delivery pipeline in
southern Nigeria, but said it has contained the leak.
(AFP, 11/13/11)
2011 Nov 15, Nigerian airport
officials fined British Airways $135 million and Virgin Atlantic
$100 million amid a dispute over ticket prices. The airlines were
given 14 days to respond and were ordered to compensate passengers.
In 2012 a panel "cancelled the fines because at the time of the
offence between 2004 and 2006, there was no law to make them
culpable."
(AFP, 11/17/11)(AFP, 2/10/12)
2011 Nov 17, In Nigeria 3
hostages, two of them Americans, were kidnapped off the coast when
gunmen attacked the MV C-Endeavour working with oil giant Chevron.
The hostages were released on Dec 1.
(AFP, 12/2/11)
2011 Nov 18, Nigeria
established its first sovereign wealth fund hoping to curb the
plunder of oil revenues.
(Econ, 11/12/11, p.56)
2011 Nov 18, In northeast
Nigeria two soldiers and a child were killed after members of a
radical Muslim sect ambushed them in Maiduguri. Two officers were
killed after gunmen blew up a police station in central Nigeria and
attacked a bank branch in Kabba.
(AP, 11/19/11)(AP, 11/20/11)
2011 Nov 18, The European
Commission said an extra 10 million euros ($13.5 million) in
humanitarian funding will go on addressing "major shortfalls" in
food in the Sahel region. The crisis is affecting 7 million people
in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Nigeria.
(AFP, 11/19/11)
2011 Nov 21, In Nigeria at
least seven people died in a clash in the Barkin Ladi area near the
city of Jos.
(AP, 11/24/11)
2011 Nov 22, Nigerian
authorities arrested and arraigned Sen. Mohammed Ali Ndume of the
ruling People's Democratic Party for allegedly being the sponsor of
Ali Sanda Umar Konduga, one of several spokesmen for Boko Haram. The
senator belonged to a committee looking at possible peace talks with
Boko Haram. A day earlier Konduga also implicated a former Nigerian
ambassador, now dead, as well as a former governor in Nigeria's
northeast in Boko Haram's creation.
(AP, 11/23/11)
2011 Nov 22, Cameroon and
Nigeria appealed for international funds to help mark the last 250
km (155 miles) of their disputed border that remains undecided.
(AP, 11/23/11)
2011 Nov 23, Nigeria's
president unexpectedly fired Farida Waziri, the female head of the
lead anti-corruption agency, removing an official accused of being
controlled by the political elite in this graft-prone nation. The
president appointed agency deputy Ibrahim Lamurde as the
commission's acting chairman.
(AP, 11/23/11)
2011 Nov 24, In Nigeria Muslim
and Christian groups said 12 more people are dead after an apparent
reprisal clash in the Barkin Ladi area near the city of Jos.
(AFP, 11/24/11)
2011 Nov 26, In northeast
Nigeria at least four people died in an apparent attack that saw
churches and businesses burned to the ground in the city of Geidam,
Yobe state.
(AP, 11/27/11)
2011 Nov 26, Chukwuemeka
Odumegwu Ojukwu (78), the secessionist leader during Nigeria's civil
war in the late 1960s and a pivotal figure in the country's history,
died in Britain. Ojukwu's 1967 declaration of independence for
Biafra came largely in response to the killing of large numbers of
Igbos in the country's north.
(AFP, 11/26/11)(Econ, 12/3/11, p.114)
2011 Nov 29, Nigeria's Senate
voted to criminalize gay marriage, gay advocacy groups and same-sex
public displays of affection, the latest legislation targeting a
minority already facing discrimination in Africa's most populous
nation. The bill must be passed by Nigeria's House of
Representatives and signed by President Goodluck Jonathan before
becoming law.
(AP, 11/29/11)
2011 Dec 2, The Environmental
Rights Action (ERA)/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (FoEN) visited
Kalaba community, Bayelsa state, and observed five spill points on
the pipeline which was spewing oil into the environment. The
pipeline was operated by Agip, the local subsidiary of Italian oil
group Eni.
(AFP, 12/3/11)
2011 Dec 3, In Nigeria
suspected Muslim sect members shot and killed two people during a
wedding ceremony in Maiduguri.
(AP, 12/3/11)
2011 Dec 4, In northern Nigeria
gunmen from a radical Muslim sect raided Azari town, Bauchi state,
bombing police stations and robbing banks in an attack that killed
at least six people.
(AP, 12/4/11)
2011 Dec 6, A Nigerian court
convicted a man accused of being one of several spokesmen for the
Boko Haram radical Muslim sect, responsible for hundreds of killings
this year. Ali Sanda Umar Konduga was sentenced to three years in
prison.
(AP, 12/6/11)
2011 Dec 7, In Nigeria a
powerful explosion rocked the northern city of Kaduna, killing 7
people, wounding many others. A Red Cross report said two men on a
motorbike had stopped in front of an auto parts shop in Kaduna just
before the explosion went off. The police's anti-bomb squad had
concluded that the blast was accidental.
(AFP, 12/7/11)(AP, 12/8/11)
2011 Dec 10, In central Nigeria
3 bomb attacks, blamed on the feared Boko Haram radical sect, killed
one person and wounded 11 others in Jos.
(AP, 12/11/11)
2011 Dec 13, In Nigeria a
powerful bomb blast targeting soldiers followed by gunfire rocked
the troubled city of Maiduguri, with at least 10 people killed. The
blast occurred ahead of President Goodluck Jonathan's presentation
of his 2012 budget before parliament in Abuja.
(AFP, 12/13/11)
2011 Dec 13, In Nigeria a
boat capsized carrying as many as 55 people going from Eagle
Island to Mgbuodohia in Rivers state. At least 30 people died. 14
others were feared dead.
(AP, 12/16/11)
2011 Dec 15, In northern
Nigeria assailants shot dead three officers after attacking a
boarding school near the city of Kano. Gunmen attacked people
gathered outside a shop in the city of Maiduguri. The drive-by
assailants were carrying Kalashnikov rifles under their flowing
robes and left 5 people dead. Authorities blamed the radical Boko
Haram Muslim sect.
(AP, 12/16/11)(AP, 12/17/11)
2011 Dec 16, In Nigeria a
gunmen opened fire on a police checkpoint on the outskirts of Kano,
resulting in a shootout which left one policeman dead and another
seriously wounded.
(AFP, 12/17/11)
2011 Dec 17, In Nigeria an
explosion at a house allegedly used to make home-made bombs in the
northeastern city of Maiduguri killed three suspected Islamist sect
members. Police shot rifles and fired tear gas at protesters who
were demonstrating against toll roads in Lagos.
(AFP, 12/17/11)(AP, 12/17/11)
2011 Dec 19, Nigeria launched a
communications satellite into space to replace one that failed in
2008. The satellite was launched from Xichang in southwest China.
(AFP, 12/19/11)
2011 Dec 20, In northern
Nigeria gunmen killed five people in a pre-dawn attack in Kagoro
town, Kaduna state, the epicentre of post-election violence earlier
this year.
(AFP, 12/20/11)
2011 Dec 21, Shell, the major
oil producer in Nigeria, said an oil spill likely occurred as
workers tried to offload oil onto a waiting tanker. Shell estimated
the Bonga spill likely was less than 40,000 barrels, or 1.68 million
gallons. The oil slick affected 115 miles (185 km) of ocean along
Nigeria's coast.
(AP, 12/22/11)
2011 Dec 22, In Nigeria unrest
broke out in the city of Damaturu and two other northeastern cities,
Maiduguri and Potiskum, leaving at least six people dead.
(AFP, 12/23/11)
2011 Dec 23, In Nigeria a fresh
round of explosions and gunfire hit the city of Damaturu as
authorities battled suspected members of Islamist sect Boko Haram, a
day after unrest killed six people.
(AFP, 12/23/11)
2011 Dec 24, Nigerian police
and a local rights group said the death toll from 2 days of attacks
in the north attributed to the Islamist Boko Haram sect could reach
100.
(AFP, 12/24/11)
2011 Dec 25, In Nigeria an
explosion, claimed by Muslim extremists, ripped through a Catholic
church during Mass killing at least 35 people at the St. Theresa
Catholic Church in Madalla, near the capital, Abuja. The toll soon
rose to 44 as more people died of their injuries. In Jos a second
explosion struck near a Mountain of Fire and Miracles Church. Gunmen
later opened fire on police guarding the area, killing one police
officer. 2 explosions struck the northeastern city of Damaturu. The
bomber targeted a senior military commander and killed three
officers in the attack.
(AP, 12/25/11)(AFP, 12/26/11)(AFP, 12/30/11)
2011 Dec 27, In southern
Nigeria attackers threw homemade explosives inside an Islamic school
in a predominantly Christian city where some 50 children had
gathered for an Arabic class, wounding six pupils and a teacher in
Delta state. Gunmen in a late night attack shot dead a
three-year-old girl and her parents near the volatile central city
of Jos. The attackers were suspected to be Fulani tribesmen, a
mostly Muslim group which has been blamed for previous raids on the
village.
(AP, 12/28/11)
2011 Dec 30, In Nigeria gunmen
killed two civilians in Maiduguri, a town plagued by attacks from a
radical Muslim sect.
(AP, 12/31/11)
2011 Dec 31, Nigeria's
president Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in parts
of the nation, after a recent slew of deadly attacks blamed on a
radical Muslim sect killed dozens of people.
(AP, 12/31/11)
2011 In Nigeria the average
annual income of $718 per person in the northernmost 19 states was
half the figure of the remaining 17 states. With some 160 million
people Nigeria was the world’s 7th most populous country. The UN
estimated Nigeria’s population could grow to around 400 million by
2050.
(Econ, 4/30/11, p.52)(Econ, 5/14/11, p.77)(AFP,
10/30/11)
2012 Jan 1, Nigeria, Africa's
most populous nation and largest oil producer, announced immediate
ends to subsidies on petrol, a policy that had held pump prices at
65 naira per liter ($0.40, 0.30 euros).
(AFP, 1/2/12)
2012 Jan 2, In Nigeria prices
at many stations more than doubled to 140 naira or more per liter in
a country where most of the population lives on less than two
dollars a day. The country's main labor unions threatened mass
action.
(AFP, 1/2/12)
2012 Jan 3, Nigerian police
fired tear gas and detained protesters while crowds blocked petrol
stations amid rising anger over a controversial measure that has led
to skyrocketing fuel prices. A top trade union accused police of
shooting dead a protester. Two suspected Boko Haram gunmen shot dead
the head of the Shehuri neighborhood in Maiduguri. Suspected sect
members also killed the leader of a neighborhood in Damaturu during
a simultaneous attack. A girl was killed in the crossfire after
suspected sect members attacked a police station in the northern
state of Jigawa. Sect members also attacked a church in Gombe state,
killing at least 8 people.
(AFP, 1/3/12)(AP, 1/4/12)(AP, 1/7/12)
2012 Jan 5, In Nigeria the two
suspected Boko Haram members were killed after resisting arrest in
the northeastern city of Maiduguri. Police fired tear gas and beat
demonstrators who staged a protest in Kano against soaring fuel
prices. Residents said an attack at Good Will Hotel in Mubi killed
five people, all of them Igbos. Gunmen opened fire on worshippers at
a church on the outskirts of the city of Gombe, killing six people,
including the pastor's wife.
(AP, 1/5/12)(AFP, 1/5/12)(AFP, 1/6/12)
2012 Jan 6, In northern Nigeria
gunmen fired on Christian mourners, killing at least 20 people. The
attack occurred in Mubi in Adamawa state as Igbo traders held a
meeting before opening up their shops for business. Boko Haram
members attacked a beauty salon and fought government forces as part
of its continuing sectarian battle against Nigeria's weak central
government. At least eight worshippers died in an attack on the
Apostolic Church in Yola, Adamawa state. At a nearby beauty salon,
at least three others were killed in a similar attack. At least two
people were killed In the town of Potiskum, Yobe state, as gunmen
set two banks ablaze and started a gunfight with police.
(AFP, 1/6/12)(AP, 1/6/12)(AP, 1/7/12)
2012 Jan 7, Nigeria’s Pres.
Goodluck Jonathan said he has ordered travel by political office
holders be cut "to the barest minimum." He also said he has cut
political office holders' salaries in the executive branch by 25
percent for 2012. In the northeast suspected gunmen of a radical
Muslim sect, killed three people on an attack on a tea shop in Biu,
Borno state. Boko Haram gunmen also shot and killed two Christian
students who attend the University of Maiduguri.
(AP, 1/7/12)(AP, 1/8/12)
2012 Jan 8, In Nigeria gunmen
attacked a military vehicle in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno
state. The attack killed three civilians and wounded six civilians
and one soldier.
(AP, 1/8/12)
2012 Jan 9, Nigerian police and
protesters clashed and people were shot dead as tens of thousands
demonstrated nationwide over fuel price hikes and a general strike
shut down the country. Suspected members of Boko Haram killed two
Christians in separate attacks in Maiduguri despite an increased
security presence in the area. Boko Haram gunmen killed a secret
police officer in Biu. 6 people were killed in Benin as a crowd
split off to attack a mosque and terrorize people in neighborhoods
that are mainly Hausa.
(AFP, 1/9/12)(AP, 1/9/12)(AP, 1/10/12)(AFP,
1/10/12)
2012 Jan 10, In Nigeria Imam
Abubakar Shekau, the leader of the Boko Haram radical Islamist sect
challenged the authority of Nigeria's president in an online video,
promising more attacks in a nation increasingly overcome by unrest
and divided by religion. Gunmen killed eight people, including five
police officers, in a pub in Potiskum town in the northern state of
Yobe before speeding off on a motorcycle. Gunmen also killed three
people in an attack on a Christian village in Bauchi state. In the
south a mob burnt part of the central mosque complex in the city of
Benin. Local media reported that three others were killed in
southwestern Ogun and Osun states, one by a police officer.
(AFP, 1/10/12)(AP, 1/11/12)(AFP, 1/11/12)
2012 Jan 11, In Nigeria tens of
thousands defied an order to end a three-day-old strike as unions
threatened to halt output in Africa's top crude producer and a mob
rampage left a police officer dead. Boko Haram gunmen attacked a bus
in Yobe state carrying Christian Igbo traders on the outskirts of
the city of Potiskum, killing four people. Two police officers were
killed when a mob rampaged in the central city of Minna. A police
station in the northeastern city of Yola was attacked by unknown
gunmen, killing one officer.
(AFP, 1/11/12)(AP, 1/11/12)(AP, 1/12/12)
2012 Jan 12, In Nigeria a
national strike entered its fourth day with oil workers threatening
to halt production.
(AFP, 1/12/12)
2012 Jan 13, A top Nigerian
labor leader announced a two-day suspension of protests at the
weekend as a national strike over fuel prices shut down the country
for a fifth day running. In the northeast gunmen attacked two pubs,
killing four people amid a wave of such violence blamed on Islamist
group Boko Haram.
(AFP, 1/13/12)(AFP, 1/14/12)
2012 Jan 14, Nigeria's
government and union leaders ended talks without a deal to end a
week-old strike that has shut down the country.
(AFP, 1/14/12)
2012 Jan 16, Nigerian unions
ended a week-old nationwide strike after President Goodluck Jonathan
agreed to lower petrol prices, while security forces shot into the
air and fired tear gas to disperse protesters. An unidentified
gunmen shot dead three Chadian builders and stole their mobile
phones in the northeastern city of Damaturu. 2 people were killed
when gunmen invaded their homes in Borno state.
(AFP, 1/16/12)(AFP, 1/17/12)(AP, 1/17/12)
2012 Jan 17, Nigerian soldiers
arrested six Islamists described as high-ranking members of the Boko
Haram sect during a raid in Maiduguri. Troops shot dead four
suspected members of the sect and injured five others in the same
city and defused five bombs. Boko Haram gunmen shot dead 2 soldiers
who were distributing food to soldiers on duty. Police acknowledged
that Kabiru Sokoto, the suspected mastermind of the Christmas Day
bombing, has escaped custody after being arrested in the country's
capital.
(AP, 1/17/12)(AFP, 1/18/12)(AP, 1/18/12)
2012 Jan 19, Nigerian police
fired tear gas in Lagos at hundreds of protestors as more than 200
defied police warnings and marched towards a park in the economic
capital that has become the epicenter of mass mobilization against
the removal of fuel subsidies.
(AFP, 1/19/12)
2012 Jan 20, In Nigeria an
explosion ripped through a zonal police headquarters in Kano, the
largest city in the Muslim north. Bomb attacks targeting security
forces and gun battles killed at least 150 civilians, 29 police
officers, three secret police officers, two immigration officers and
one customs official, bringing the death toll in Kano to 185 dead. A
local television journalist was among those shot dead as he covered
the unrest.
(AP, 1/20/12)(AFP, 1/21/12)(AP, 1/24/12)
2012 Jan 22, In northern
Nigeria 11 people were killed overnight in an attack in Bauchi
state.
(AP, 1/22/12)
2012 Jan 24, Nigerian security
forces killed a man and his pregnant wife in an assault on a
neighborhood in Kano. Suspected members of Boko Haram surrounded a
police station in Kano, ordered civilians to get off the street,
began chanting "God is great" and threw homemade bombs into the
station while spraying it with assault rifles.
(AP, 1/24/12)(AP, 1/25/12)
2012 Jan 24, In Mauritania
representatives from Sahel states (Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Algeria)
and Nigeria vowed to help each other fight terrorism from Al-Qaeda
in the Islamic Maghreb and Islamist sect Boko Haram, which are said
to have ties.
(AFP, 1/24/12)
2012 Jan 26, In Nigeria a
police source said some 200 people, mostly Chadian "mercenaries,"
have been arrested following last week's attacks in the northern
main city of Kano. Gunmen killed 15 village traders returning from a
market at night and set their bodies ablaze in northern Zamfara
state.
(AFP, 1/26/12)(AFP, 1/27/12)
2012 Jan 27, Gunmen in Nigeria
killed at least one officer after opening fire on a police station
in the city of Kano. Police in southeastern Enugu state arrested 25
armed men believed to have come from the violence-plagued
predominantly Muslim north while traveling on a bus headed to the
mainly Christian south. The men were found with 19 home-made guns
and some machetes during a search at a highway police checkpoint.
(AFP, 1/28/12)
2012 Jan 29, In Nigeria gunmen
stormed police station near a bus station in Kano, leaving two
civilians dead. In the northern city of Potsikum, attackers
traveling on a bicycle shot dead a guard outside a church.
(AFP, 1/30/12)
2012 Jan 30, In Nigeria a Court
of Appeals ruled that Maj. Hamza Al-Mustapha, the right-hand man for
the feared military dictator Sani Abacha, should be hanged. He was
accused of orchestrating the 1996 machine-gun killing of the wife of
Moshood Abiola, a flamboyant businessman widely believed to be have
won an annulled 1993 presidential election. Gunmen on motorcycles
attacked a police station in Kano but were repelled by police. Boko
Haram gunmen attacked an air force barracks, a police station and an
army checkpoint, about 90 miles (150 km) north of Maiduguri, killing
5 people.
(AP, 1/30/12)(AFP, 1/30/12)(AP, 1/31/12)
2012 Jan 31, NUPENG, a Nigerian
oil workers' union, launched a strike over a dispute with Shell,
sparking fears of petrol shortages. The National Union of Petroleum
and Natural Gas Workers, the smaller of Nigeria's two oil industry
unions, represents blue-collar workers, including tanker drivers.
(AFP, 1/31/12)
2012 Feb 1, In Nigeria several
security sources said that a suspect believed to be the person who
goes by the alias Abul Qaqa had been arrested, but authorities have
not officially confirmed his detention or his identity.
(AFP, 2/2/12)
2012 Feb 5, In Nigeria gunmen
reportedly shot dead a secret police officer in front of his house
in the northeastern city of Damaturu. Soldiers guarding Jos, at the
heart of ethnic and religious clashes, detained and later threw out
journalists working for a French television station trying to cover
the ongoing unrest there.
(AFP, 2/5/12)(AP, 2/7/12)
2012 Feb 6, In Nigeria three
forged police ID cards, 11 police rifles and boots were allegedly
recovered in an army raid on a Boko Haram hideout in which 8
suspected sect members died.
(AFP, 2/8/12)
2012 Feb 7, In Nigeria
explosions rocked an army barracks, a bridge and an air base in the
northern city of Kaduna amid a wave of attacks blamed on Islamist
group Boko Haram. One suicide bomber was reported killed.
(AFP, 2/7/12)
2012 Feb 10, In Nigeria
officers from the State Security Service and soldiers raided a home
in Mutum Biyu, Taraba state, where Kabiru Sokoto, alleged mastermind
of a radical Islamist sect's Christmas Day church bombing, was
hiding. He had escaped a day after his arrest in January. They found
Sokoto hiding behind a rack of drying laundry. Two explosions went
off outside a customs building in Maiduguri, killing four bombers
and wounding two soldiers.
(AP, 2/10/12)(AFP, 2/10/12)
2012 Feb 13, Suspected Nigerian
pirates fired on a cargo ship around 110 nautical miles off the
coast of Nigeria killing the captain and chief engineer. The French
navy came to the aid of the cargo ship.
(AFP, 2/13/12)(AP, 2/16/12)
2012 Feb 14, In Nigeria a bomb
disposal officer was killed trying to defuse a bomb just minutes
after another blast in Kaduna previously hit by a feared Islamist
sect. Boko Haram claimed responsibility for another series of bomb
attacks targeting two major military bases and a highway overpass
that wounded an unknown number of people in Kaduna.
(AP, 2/14/12)
2012 Feb 15, In Nigeria
attackers stormed a federal prison with heavy gunfire and
explosives, killing one guard and freeing 119 inmates in
Koton-Karifi, Kogi state.
(AP, 2/16/12)
2012 Feb 16, In Nigeria unknown
gunmen shot and killed two police officers in Minna, Niger state. 32
people were killed in a head-on crash between two buses in Bauchi
state.
(AP, 2/17/12)
2012 Feb 17, Ivory Coast's
President Alassane Ouattara was named the new head of West Africa's
regional bloc, outgoing chief Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria announced
before the close of the Economic Community of West African States in
Abuja.
(AFP, 2/17/12)
2012 Feb 18, In northeast
Nigeria gunmen shot dead an Islamic cleric and a local politician in
separate attacks.
(AP, 2/19/12)
2012 Feb 19, In Nigeria a bomb
planted in an abandoned car exploded outside a church in the middle
of a worship service in Suleja near Abuja, wounding five people amid
a continuing wave of violence by a radical Islamist sect.
(AP, 2/19/12)
2012 Feb 20, In Nigeria some 30
people were killed when suspected Islamists opened fire and set off
bombs at a market in the northeastern city of Maiduguri.
(AFP, 2/20/12)(AFP, 2/21/12)
2012 Feb 21, A Shell oil
official said oil companies in Nigeria are battling against a rising
theft that is costing them an estimated 150,000 barrels of crude
each day.
(AFP, 2/21/12)
2012 Feb 22, Nigeria said it
has renewed oil licenses which will let US energy giant ExxonMobil
operate 3 big fields that produce about 500,000 barrels of crude a
day for 20 years.
(AFP, 2/23/12)
2012 Feb 22, In Nigeria gunmen
on a motorcycle shot dead 2 policemen watching over a highway in
Lapai, Niger state.
(AFP, 2/23/12)
2012 Feb 23, In Nigeria gunmen
on four motorcycles shot dead 4 policemen on foot patrol in Kano. 15
suspects were arrested.
(AFP, 2/23/12)
2012 Feb 24, In Nigeria
suspected members of the Boko Haram sect gunned down five
worshippers inside a mosque as evening prayers ended in Kano. Gunmen
suspected of being Boko Haram Islamists killed a dozen people when
they razed a police station after failing to storm a jail in Gombe
city.
(AFP, 2/25/12)
2012 Feb 25, In Nigeria
suspected Boko Haram gunmen killed two police officers in separate
attacks in Kaduna and Maiduguri.
(AP, 2/26/12)
2012 Feb 26, In Nigeria a
suicide bomber detonated an explosives laden car outside a packed
church during Sunday service in Jos, killing three people and
injuring dozens. Gunmen shot four people dead and wounded six in a
rural area of the central state of Kaduna.
(AFP, 2/26/12)(AP, 2/28/12)
2012 Feb 27, Nigerian
immigration services said they have repatriated around 11,000
foreigners mainly from Niger and Chad over the past six months to
curb a growing Islamist insurgency. Gunmen in the north killed three
policemen when they hurled explosives and opened fire on a police
station in Jama'are, Bauchi state.
(AFP, 2/27/12)(AFP, 2/28/12)
2012 Feb 27, James Ibori (49),
former governor of Nigeria's oil-rich Delta state, pleaded guilty in
a British court to charges of money-laundering, conspiring to
defraud and obtaining a money transfer by fraud.
(AP, 2/27/12)
2012 Feb 28, In Nigeria
assailants attacked Gamboru Primary School just after dawn and then,
just over 3 miles (5 km) away, razed a newly renovated, secular
coeducational school to the ground in the northeastern city of
Maiduguri.
(AP, 2/28/12)
2012 Feb 28, Armed pirates
opened fire on a cargo ship in an attack off the Nigerian coast,
kidnapping the captain and chief engineer and robbing the crew
before escaping. The assault targeted a Dutch-owned,
Curacao-flagged, refrigerated cargo ship anchored near the coast.
(AFP, 2/29/12)
2012 Feb 29, Heavily armed
gunmen fired on an oil tanker off the coast of Nigeria. The
Panamanian-flagged, Nigerian-owned vessel thwarted an attempted
boarding by taking evasive action.
(AFP, 3/1/12)
2012 Mar 1, In Nigeria gunmen
shot and killed the four policemen as they were patrolling waterways
in Bayelsa. The armed militant group MEND soon claimed
responsibility.
(AFP, 3/2/12)
2012 Mar 2, In northern Nigeria
gunmen shot dead a soldier in the city of Kano.
(AFP, 3/3/12)
2012 Mar 4, In Nigeria
motorcyclist Mustapha Sani (25) was shot in the head and chest by
soldiers at a checkpoint outside a bus terminus. An irate mob lit
bonfires and marched through Kano to protest the alleged shooting.
Residents have complained of harassment and extortion by security
personnel at checkpoints that dot the city following the January 20
coordinated Boko Haram bomb and gun attacks that killed 185 people.
(AFP, 3/4/12)
2012 Mar 5, Nigerian troops in
the northern city of Maiduguri shot dead three suspected members of
the Islamist Boko Haram sect as they allegedly tried to burn down a
school.
(AFP, 3/5/12)
2012 Mar 6, In Nigeria unknown
gunmen shot dead Adamu Amadu, a senior customs officer in charge of
Yobe and Borno states, both recently been rocked by Islamist
attacks. Islamists attacked a prison, police station and local
government office, wounding at least three police officers in
Konduga, Borno state.
(AFP, 3/6/12)(AFP, 3/7/12)
2012 Mar 7, In northern Nigeria
gunmen attacked a police station and two banks, killing at least
four policemen, amid a wave of violence blamed on Islamist group
Boko Haram. A raid was conducted in the northern city of Zaria
leading to the arrest of Abu Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the
kidnapping of a Briton and an Italian, and five others.
(AFP, 3/8/12)(AFP, 3/14/12)
2012 Mar 8, In Nigeria a
British-Nigerian operation involving 100 troops, military trucks and
a helicopter attempted to rescue a pair of British and Italian
hostages. At least two hostage-takers were killed in the operation
in Sokoto. Italian engineer Franco Lamolinara (48) and his British
colleague Chris McManus (28) were shot by their captors. Italy’s PM
Monti was only informed by Britain’s PM Cameron once the operation
was under way. The two hostages were kidnapped by heavily armed men
who stormed their apartment in Kebbi state in May 2011. Nigerian
authorities detained five Islamist militants suspected of
involvement in the kidnapping.
(AFP, 3/9/12)(AP, 3/9/12)Reuters, 3/10/12)
2012 Mar 8, South Africa
apologized for barring 125 Nigerians from the country and unveiled
new immigration procedures aimed at ending a diplomatic row between
the continent's two powerhouses. Immigration officials at
Johannesburg's main airport on March 2 refused entry to Nigerians,
on the pretext that their yellow fever vaccination cards might be
fake.
(AFP, 3/8/12)
2012 Mar 9, In Nigeria Abu
Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the kidnapping of a Briton and
an Italian, died following bullet wounds sustained during a raid in
Zaria 2 days earlier.
(AFP, 3/14/12)
2012 Mar 11, In Nigeria a
suicide bomber blew himself up outside St Finbar’s Catholic church
in Jos, killing 7 attending mass. 4 suicide bombers, including two
that drove the car and two on a motorcycle that escorted the car,
were also reported killed. Soldiers opened fire to disperse a crowd
of onlookers killing at least 3 more people. Gunmen later in the day
shot dead three Christians in Jos.
(AFP, 3/11/12)(AFP, 3/12/12)
2012 Mar 12, In northern
Nigeria attackers shot dead a policeman, a soldier and three
bystanders at a checkpoint in the town of Mubi.
(AP, 3/13/12)
2012 Mar 13, In northern
Nigeria suspected sect members shot dead two policemen in Kano.
Soldiers killed one of the assailants during the attack.
(AP, 3/13/12)
2012 Mar 14, In central Nigeria
a police helicopter crashed and burst into flames in Jos, killing
four policemen on board, including a senior officer.
(AFP, 3/14/12)
2012 Mar 15, In Nigeria gunmen
raided a mainly Christian village in Kaduna State, killing 10
people, including a pastor and injuring four others.
(AFP, 3/17/12)
2012 Mar 17, In Nigeria
respected cleric Ibrahim Datti Ahmad, who was mediating in peace
talks between the government and the Boko Haram Islamist sect,
announced he was quitting the talks, accusing the government of
insincerity.
(AFP, 3/17/12)
2012 Mar 20, In Nigeria a
spokesman for Islamist group Boko Haram ruled out further talks with
the government after preliminary, indirect contacts aimed at ending
scores of deadly attacks. Abul Qaqa said the government could not be
trusted.
(AP, 3/21/12)
2012 Mar 20, In Nigeria the
Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, a UN Foundation-led
initiative, launched a campaign aimed at preventing deaths due to
toxic smoke from rudimentary cookstoves.
(AFP, 3/20/12)
2012 Mar 21, Nigerian troops
ambushed and killed 9 gunmen who had attacked a police station and a
bank in the north of the country. 2 gunmen who were taken alive in
Tudun Wada.
(AFP, 3/22/12)
2012 Mar 23, In Britain a group
of 35 Nigerian villages sued Royal Dutch Shell PLC claiming that the
company’s slow response to two spills in 2008 left their delta
region soaked in crude oil.
(SFC, 3/24/12, p.A2)
2012 Noo Saro-Wiwa authored
“Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria.”
(Econ, 1/7/12, p.77)
Go to
http://www.timelinesdb./com
Subject = Nigeria
End of file.